DESPITE renewed efforts by security forces to rescue three foreigners abducted by Abu Sayyaf bandits, police in Jolo reported Monday that they recovered the decapitated head of Canadian John Ridsdel, 68, one of the three hostages.
Ridsdel, fellow Canadian Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and a Filipina, Marites Flor, were taken from an upscale resort on Samal Island in September 2015. The bandits demanded a ransom of P300 million for each of the foreign hostages, and threatened to behead them if they did not receive the payments by April 25.
The expiration of the deadline brought grim news Monday. Two men on a motorcycle left Ridsdel’s head, inside a plastic bag, along a street in the town of Jolo in Sulu province, police said. The bandits had made good on their threat. The fate of the other three hostages was as yet unknown.
Just 10 days before, Ridsdel and Hall were shown on a video asking the Canadian government to pay their ransom.
Ridsdel and his companions were believed to be on Jolo Island, where the Abu Sayyaf was said to be holding other hostages, including 14 Indonesian and four Malaysian sailors, who were taken at gunpoint from their tugboats in March.
Halfway across the world, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the execution of Ridsdel and said Canada would work with the Philippines and other allies “to pursue those responsible for this heinous act.”
“This was an act of cold-blooded murder and responsibility rests solely with the terrorist group that took him hostage,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister was only partly correct.
Since the Abu Sayyaf was formed in 1991, five successive administrations have failed to eradicate the group, which was responsible for the infamous Dos Palmas kidnappings in 2001, and the worst terrorist attack in the Philippines in 2004, when they bombed the Superferry, killing 116 people.
Since then, the group has hopped from one atrocity to the next, eventually degenerating into a vicious bandit group that became infamous for kidnapping foreigners for money, and beheading them if their ransom went unpaid.
The group has no doubt been financed by the huge ransoms it receives, notwithstanding the Philippines’ official policy not to negotiate with terrorists.
It is arguable that the police and military campaign waged against the Abu Sayyaf has done little to impair the bandits’ ability to operate their criminal enterprise with impunity. Over the years, the group has survived the loss of several of its top leaders and struck back with a vengeance.
Perhaps it is a failure of intelligence, or the lack of political will. Or simply the wrong approach.
Our inability to eradicate this threat over five successive administrations is our national failure and our shame. The Abu Sayyaf is a pox upon our house that must not survive the incoming administration.