SOLDIERS SEARCH FOR HOSTAGES
BY ANY OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL LICENSED TO CARE FOR CHILDREN, DR. TANNIS DID NOT MEET THE STANDARD OF CARE. — DR. MICHELLE COHEN
There were exchanges of gunfire Tuesday as 2,000 Philippine soldiers and marines hunted for the Islamic extremists who beheaded Calgarian John Ridsdel in their southern jungle hideout Monday and who continue to hold three other hostages captured with Ridsdel last September, including a second Canadian, British Columbian Robert Hall.
“There will be no let-up in the operation,” which was launched Saturday to try to rescue the four who were seized from a resort in the southern Mindanao province, the armed forces chief spokesman, Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, said in an interview.
“There are ongoing operations as we speak. Our troops are still on the ground.”
Helicopter gunships and artillery were on standby to join the battle, but had been unable to do so Tuesday because of poor visibility in the Abu Sayyaf stronghold on Jolo island, where the surviving hostages are believed to be held.
While under pressure to produce results, government troops have been ordered to carry out assaults without endangering the remaining hostages, including in the use of airstrikes and artillery fire.
Doing battle with Abu Sayyaf was challenging, the colonel said, noting 18 soldiers died this month during an ambush on nearby Basilan island. About 400 extremists are thought to be hiding in a mountainous region of Jolo, where the foliage is so thick, seeing anything below the treetop canopy is often impossible.
“Jolo is surrounded by the sea, with many trees, bushes and forested areas. There are pockets in the jungle where civilians live. One of the big reasons that we cannot get right information from those people is because they are their relatives. Abu Sayyaf has a lot of sympathizers there,” Detoyato said.
“As a young lieutenant and captain, I experienced running around after bandits like Abu Sayyaf in central Mindanao. We could never get information from locals on the ground. The other problem we have right now is that because of information technology they can easily communicate with each, using cellphones and VHF radios,” he said.
Ridsdel’s would-be rescuers were told late Monday he had been murdered before they could reach him.
“We are saddened by the fact that we have been unable to achieve our objective of saving his life,” Detoyato said. “We had intended to. There are still other victims. Their safety is the concern in our planning and execution of operations.”
Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay, Grace Poe and Mariam Defensor Santiago, who are candidates in next month’s presidential elections in the Philippines, sent their condolences to the Ridsdel family and said Abu Sayyaf, which has carried out bloody attacks and kidnappings for years, must be exterminated.
According to several unofficial Filipino sources, the Canadian embassy, which has declined to comment on any aspect of the stillunfolding tragedy, quickly identified Ridsdel from a photograph of his head. It was sent by email to Manila by police in Jolo Town after two men on motorcycles threw the head of a bearded Caucasian in a bloody plastic bag at the feet of five schoolchildren near city hall.
Speaking cryptically in the local Tausug language, which is also spoken on neighbouring Malaysian and Indonesian islands, where are there are similar problems with Islamic extremists, the motorcyclists told the children, “We will be back,” said Dick Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, in an interview.
Gordon said he had been regularly receiving sketchy second-hand reports from Jolo “that I cannot rely on completely. They come to me by text message.”
One of the things his sources told him was that the abductors were still holding Hall, a Norwegian and a Filipino, along with a Japanese and a Malaysian. Another Abu Sayyaf cell had 14 Indonesian and Malaysian sailors as captives.
Gordon also revealed that at Abu Sayyaf ’s request he had spoken by telephone recently with Ridsdel and the other hostages to confirm they were alive.
“It was only a few words. It was not even a minute because nothing more than this was allowed,” said the former senator, a member of an influential Filipino family, who is running for office again in the elections. “They had been told to tell their governments to help them and to tell their relatives that they were OK.”
While loathe to predict what comes next, Gordon, who has been involved in such volatile dramas before, said he expected “more and more they will threaten to kill (the hostages) if the military does not keep a reasonable distance. But the hostages are always the most protected because it is money for them ...
“The situation for civilians there will deteriorate for a while and there will be some internally displaced people. We will provide them with some psychological support and some temporary tents. But most will go to their relatives or sleep on the ground with blankets that they will be given. ... People have been trying to reach us for help but we have not yet been allowed in there yet.
“Many people are given money after a kidnapping. Besides that, there is a lot of resentment of the government when they are being shelled and used as human shields. So, it is a difficult situation.”
The Philippines, a predominately Roman Catholic nation, strongly opposes negotiations with terrorist groups or the payment of ransoms, arguing that such actions beget more kidnappings.
While not directly criticizing Canada for trying to help Ridsdel’s family deal with Abu Sayyaf, as was revealed Monday by former Liberal minister Bob Rae, who knew the Calgarian, Gordon said, “I think they can negotiate more imaginatively. They need somebody who understands these people. (Abu Sayyaf ) are trying to get as much (money) as they can. The more you give them, the more they will ask you.”
Rather than pay the kidnappers, he suggested more might be achieved by providing perhaps 1,000 pesos (about $29) a month so every young person in deeply impoverished Muslim parts of the country could go to school.
Another idea was that efforts should be made to market the mangoes grown on Jolo island, which are prized for their sweetness, Gordon said.
“If they do this they will understand earning money this way is better than kidnapping,” he said.