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38 Suspected Abu Sayyaf Members, Supporters Arrested
A total of 38 suspected members and supporters of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group in the southern Philippines have been arrested, just a day after President Gloria Macapagal -Arroyo ordered an intensified crackdown on the group, the military said.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Diomedio Villanueva told reporters that charges against the alleged Abu Sayyaf members and sympathizers are being readied by a 10-member team of government prosecutors that have flown to the southern island of Mindanao to monitor the crackdown.
The military and police launched a massive crackdown on Abu Sayyaf members and their supporters or sympathizers in the south early Friday morning under the order of President Arroyo to solve a lingering hostage crisis.
The hostage crisis began on May 27 when a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits kidnapped 20 people, including three Americans, at a resort in the western province of Palawan. They later seized another 19 people in the southern province of Basilan while on the run from the military.
Thirteen Filipino hostages have escaped or been released allegedly after ransom was paid by their families, while four others have been killed by their captors. The bandits also claimed to have beheaded American hostage Guillermo Sobero, but his body has not been found yet.
Justice Secretary Hernando Perez on Saturday warned those sympathetic or supportive to the Abu Sayyaf rebels in Mindanao to stop such behavior or practice amid the continued crackdown against them and the Abu Sayyaf members.
Perez, who has issued a guideline authorizing the military to arrest on the spot suspected Abu Sayyaf members or their supporters, said in a radio interview that the locals who give aid to Abu Sayyaf bandits "probably do not understand that when they do that, they become part of the conspiracy."
On Friday, National Bureau of Investigation chief Reynaldo Wycoco said the next wave of arrests may include local government officials who are in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf group.
"We receive information that some local government officials both at the local and provincial level are providing material and moral support to the bandits and the terrorists. This is a very big offense," Wycoco said.
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