ZAMBOANGA -- Department of Education (DepEd) and various teachers groups condemned Monday the beheading of an abducted school principal in Sulu as the government promised to hunt down those responsible for it.

“We condemn this heinous act against the people of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm). Violence creates more suffering and sabotaging education by harming teachers will have dire consequences and the attainment of peace and progress in the region,” said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.

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He said the death of Gabriel Canizares, the school principal of Kanague Elementary School in Patikul town, Sulu, is a great loss to Education department’s efforts to improve the delivery of basic education to the war-torn island of Sulu in Mindanao.

“The entire DepEd family is shocked and grieves with the family of one of our best-performing principals, Mr. Gabriel Canizares. He is a key catalyst in our various teacher trainings with Synergia in Sulu and he is a great loss to our efforts to improve the quality of education of our children in the area,” Lapus said.

Canizares, 36, was abducted by around 12 heavily armed men suspected to be Abu Sayyaf bandits at Kilometer 7 in Barangay Tanum in Patikul around 4:20 p.m. of October 19. He was on his way to Jolo on board a passenger jeep, together with other teachers, when forcibly taken by the gunmen.

Workers at Caltex Gas station in Jolo, the capital town of Sulu, found his severed head early Monday morning inside a sack that was left near the gasoline station.

Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman Major Ramon David Hontiveros said it was the relatives of Canizares who confirmed that the head found inside the sack was of the victim.

"The terrorists (Abu Sayyaf) have again proven their barbaric nature today," Hontiveros said of Canizares' beheading, which came three weeks after the school principal’s abduction.

Sulu education department supervisor Eufrenio Canaria said the beheading was a barbaric act that has no place in a civilized society. “We are angry, very angry and at the same time very sad for what had happened.”

Various teachers groups in Metro Manila led by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) and the 40,000-strong DepEd-National Employees Union (DepEd-NEU) also condemned the incident.

“It was shocking and very sad news… the death of Principal Canizares. We condole with his family as well as to the community he was serving. We condemn the killing of Canizares,” said Professor Antonio Tinio, national chairperson of ACT.

The government promised Monday to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf bandits who were responsible for the beheading of Canizares, whose family failed to raise a ransom demanded by his kidnappers.

The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings, were reportedly demanding a ransom of P2 million ($42,000) for his release.

Regional military commander Major General Benjamin Dolorfino said the demand was later lowered by half but that Canizares' family was able to raise only P150,000 ($3,100). A school principal usually makes at least P23,000 ($490) a month in the impoverished country.

"The demand could not be met," Dolorfino said.

Massive manhunt

Also condemning the act, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military and police to put an end to the Abu Sayyaf's "heinous and inhumane atrocities" by launching a massive manhunt against the bandits.

"We shall make them pay for the enormity of this savagery," said Malacañang deputy spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo.

The President also ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to form a task group that will investigate on the beheading of Canizares.

Press Undersecretary Anthony Golez said Arroyo, who has been concerned in the welfare of school teachers, sympathizes and deeply condoles with the victim’s family.

He denied that the government had overlooked the abduction of the school principal, leading to his death.

“It is hard to say that there is negligence because if you could see the job of our authorities, they are risking their lives to pursue these bandits,” Golez said.

The Palace official also dismissed that the government is prioritizing the recovery of ailing Irish priest Michael Sinnott, who was seized a week before Canizares was snatched in Sulu.

Golez urged the public Monday to help authorities capture the kidnappers to be able to end the insurgency.

Following Arroyo’s orders Monday, military troops were preparing operations against the al-Qaeda-linked bandits in Sulu province, said Dolorfino.

Hontiveros, for his part, said the joint military and police forces that are working with the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) for Canizares' rescue will also now shift to punitive actions.

“That is the obligation of the government … go after the bandits and give justice to his (Canizares’s) death,” said ACT national chairperson Antonio Tinio.

He said the government should run after the kidnappers and ensure that justice will be served to the Canizares family.

Benjo Basas, TDC president, echoed Tinio’s statement, saying authorities must take decisive steps to end the kidnapping against teachers and school officials in the region.

“This is a devilish crime perpetrated against a helpless teacher. A heinous act condemnable in strongest possible terms,” Basas said.

He added that the military, police, local officials, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm)-DepEd must explain what measures it takes to save the life of Canizares and why did they allow him to be beheaded.

DepEd-NEU president Domingo Alidon said teachers’ lives should be spared, adding that they are just doing their jobs to bring education to even the remotest corner of the country.

“Our organization condemns in the highest degree the barbarous act of the Abu Sayyaf. They should spare DepEd personnel from these kidnap-for-ransom activities,” Alidon said.

He also urged the National Government to end the criminal activities of the group.

“The President must do something to end these illegal activities. This is alarming because this isn’t the first incident that teachers in Mindanao are victimized,” he stressed.

Last January and March, a total of six public elementary teachers were also kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Zamboanga though they were released after several months of negotiation between the kidnappers and the local authorities.

As of Monday morning, authorities have yet to recover Canizares’s body.

Retaliation

Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, AFP public affairs office chief, said Canizares's beheading might be retaliation for the recent capture of a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader involved in the beheading of Marines in nearby Basilan province in 2007.

Government security forces arrested Saturday Hassan Asnawi, also known as Dan Laksaw and Abu Manzin, the deputy commander of the MILF's 114th Base Command.

Superintendent Jose Bayan Gucela, spokesman of the Zamboanga Peninsula Police Office (ZPPO), said Asnawi was arrested around 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Zamboanga International Airport while he was about to board a commercial flight bound for Manila.

Asnawi is among the 130 MILF rebels charged in court for the July 10, 2007 ambush and beheading of 14 Marine soldiers in Basilan. Ten of the 14 slain Marines were beheaded when recovered from the ambush site. (Bong Garcia/Jill Beltran/AH/AP/Sunnex)