WEEKS after the first clash with government troops in Inabanga town, the Abu Sayyaf Group’s incursion into Bohol has fully been stifled. The two Abus who were remnants of the group that entered Inabanga river in three pump boats last month were finally cornered in Pangangan island in Calape town and killed yesterday.
For a while since the April 11 clash in Inabanga that resulted in the death of three military personnel, a policeman, four Abus and an elderly couple, Bohol residents were blanketed with fear because seven of the terrorists, including their guide, Inabanga native Joselito Melloria, evaded government pursuit.
A combination of continued military and police operations, people’s vigilance and even the promise of a P1 million reward per Abu Sayyaf terrorist arrested or killed following tips given to authorities eventually did the remaining Abus in. A clash in Clarin, a neighboring town of Inabanga, on a tip provided by a habal-habal driver resulted in the death of four more Abus, including Melloria, on April 22.
Around two weeks later, on May 4, a hungry Abu Sayyaf member, Saad Samad Kiram, surfaced in Tubigon, the town next to Clarin, and was promptly arrested after residents informed authorities about his presence. He was killed a few hours later by policemen who claimed he escaped while being brought to a Bohol jail. The Commission on Human Rights is looking into the incident.
Elements of the police and military have been scouring Pangangan island in Calape, the town next to Tubigon going south, for the past five days after receiving information of a fishing boat stolen from Tubigon that ended up there. Calape where Pagangan belongs is the town next to Tubigon going south. The island, while small, has eight barangays.
From Inabanga on April 11 to Calape on May 15, that’s how far and how long the Abu Sayyaf incursion into Bohol has unraveled. But while all the armed terrorists have been accounted for, the question on why they did it remains to be answered fully.
In this Abu saga, only the alleged supporting cast, Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza and her companion Renierlo Dongon, are alive. Nobleza and Dongon were accused of attempting to rescue the fleeing Abu Sayyaf members. Can the government eventually extract from them information that will provide full closure to this Abu Sayyaf episode in Bohol’s history?