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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Arroyo: No ceasefire with Jolo insurgents
JOLO -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed Tuesday to forge ahead with a major military offensive against Muslim insurgents in Mindanao believed to have prompted deadly bombings in three cities.
"The desperation of the enemy cannot be underestimated, even as it lies in the throes of defeat," Arroyo said in a statement. "More than ever, we must not pull back but move forward to wipe out the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf."
The entire 114,000-member national police force was on high alert for further attacks. Manila police chief Pedro Bulaong said checkpoints had been strengthened at public places, including train stations and bus terminals.
Despite calls by former President Fidel Ramos for a ceasefire, the military said it will continue to pursue loyalists of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari who attacked military camps on the island of Jolo in Sulu, triggering fighting that has killed 27 soldiers and wounded 72 others.
Troops have killed 37 gunmen and wounded scores of others, the military said.
Military spokesman Angel Honrado said they have not received any order for a ceasefire so operations against the remaining Misuari followers would go on until they were neutralized.
Armed Forces Chief Efren Abu said it was solely up to President Arroyo if she wants to declare a ceasefire with the insurgents.
"At the moment, we are just doing our job, we are pursuing them, we are running after them. The military continues to do its job," he said.
About 3,000 soldiers and marines are pursuing the insurgents, backed by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, since they attacked an Army detachment in Panamao town on February 7.
The Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks Monday in Manila and two Mindanao cities that killed seven people and injured at least 123, apparently to divert the military's attention and ease the pressure on the beleaguered gunmen, Abu added.
However, he said military reinforcements had occupied more of the rebels' hilly stronghold of Bitan-ag, where the gunmen sought refuge after fleeing nearby Panamao town.
Army scout rangers were pursuing a group of rebels moving deeper into Jolo's mountainous center, he said.
"We have inflicted maximum casualties and many of (the rebels) are withdrawing and the rangers are pursuing them," he said in a television interview. "They are on the run and they come here to Manila to try to divert our attention."
Abu denied that the military has set up a naval blockade around Sulu to prevent the rebels from leaving the province. But he admitted that a number of ships are currently guarding Sulu coastlines.
The US Embassy condemned the bombings and warned Americans that the threat against them in the Philippines is high.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called the attacks a reminder that terrorism remains a "huge challenge" in Southeast Asia.
"Our region is something of a front line in the fight against terrorism," Howard said in Canberra.
Sabri Asri, a Jolo government spokesman, said about 16,000 villagers have been displaced by the fighting.
Misuari formerly headed the Moro National Liberation Front, a large Muslim separatist group that accepted limited autonomy and signed a peace accord with the government in 1996.
But violence re-ignited years later and Misuari was imprisoned near Manila on charges of rebellion.
His armed followers in Jolo say they attacked troops last week in retaliation for an Army intrusion into their strongholds in which some innocent residents were killed.
Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Solaiman promised more bomb attacks.
"We will find more ways and means to inflict more harm to your people's lives and properties, and we will not stop unless we get justice for the countless Muslims lives and properties that you people have destroyed," he said.
Arroyo consulted Tuesday with Muslim leaders and said diplomatic and security teams will be dispatched "to muster support in the regional neighborhood and among the Islamic nations."
"There should be no fear of a witch hunt," Arroyo said. "This is not a fight against Islam." (AP/With Sunnex Luzon)
(February 16, 2005 issue)
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