|
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Pinoy informer gets US$100,000 bounty in Zambo
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- US Chargé d'Affaires Paul Jones on Tuesday rewarded a Filipino civilian with over $100,000 in bounty for helping the local military capture a wanted Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in the May 2001 kidnapping of four American citizens.
Jones handed the money to the masked informer inside the tightly guarded Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City. "The United States will continue to work closely with the Philippines in the war against terror," he said.
US Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop called the Filipino a "courageous individual who stood against terrorism," citing him for the arrest last year of Toting Hanno, who was linked by Filipino authorities to the kidnapping of Kansas missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Californian Guillermo Sobero from the posh Dos Palmas island resort in Palawan.
Guillermo Sobero was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf in June 2001 in Basilan island, while Martin Burnham was shot and killed the next year during a US-led military rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Burnham's wife Gracia was rescued by Filipino army rangers, but had also been shot and wounded by her abductors.
Jones said Hanno was also part of a group who kidnapped US citizen Jeffrey Craig Schilling in Jolo island in 2000.
The military said Hanno was originally arrested in May 2002, but escaped from Basilan jail a year later. He was captured again on Sacol island off Zamboanga City after the informer led soldiers to his hideout.
Washington offered as much as US$5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who is believed to be the local contact of the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden. The US government has paid thousands of dollars in rewards for the arrest and killing of many Abu Sayyaf leaders since 2002.
After the ceremony, Jones, together with other senior US and Filipino government officials, proceeded to a remote village in Zamboanga City and donated books and other learning materials to the Culianan Learning Center.
"I am so happy by the warm reception that we got from these children. We are so proud to be part of helping the education in the Philippines, in Zamboanga City," Jones said.
Jones was so elated by the presence of hundreds of school children waving US and Philippine flags that he went out of his way to shake hands with them. The children waited for Jones for about 30 minutes under the sun and when his convoy arrived, they started clapping and waving the flags they made to welcome the US government officials.
Jones also spoke with Gaspar Salin, a nine-year-old disabled student, who asked for a wheelchair. Salin, despite his condition, also waved his small US flag and caught the attention of Jones.
"Uncle Paul, please help me, please give me a new wheelchair," he told Jones, who promised to send one for the boy. Salin said his dilapidated wheel chair was also donated by US soldiers who trained local troops three years ago in Zamboanga City.
"We are so happy that Gaspar will soon have a new wheelchair," said Josefina Lacastesantos, the school principal. "Mr. Jones is really a kind man. He visited us and gave the children books. We are really so thankful to the Americans. We will never forget this day," she said.
Jones inspected at least four classrooms and spoke with the students and teachers. He pledged to send more help to the school. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(January 18, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
US rejects RP bid to have custody of 4 Marines