7 soldiers, 5 bandits dead
Clash erupts as troops protect workers vs Sayyaf attacks
ZAMBOANGA CITY—Seven Scout Rangers and five members of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf were killed in a clash in Sumisip, Basilan yesterday. Five soldiers were wounded.
Col. Ramon Yogyog, chief of the Joint Special Operations Task Force Basilan, said the clash took place as the soldiers were in an ongoing operation against the bandit group that has been harassing and threatening rubber plantation workers belonging to the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative Inc. (Tarbidci).
On Wednesday, armed men fired at an Army detachment securing Tarbidci in Tumahubong, a village in Sumisip where the rubber plantations are.
Yogyog said two soldiers were immediately fired upon and wounded when the clash started past 7 a.m.
When the fighting lasted, at least 40 members of the Abu Sayyaf came as reinforcements for the initial group of at least 20 bandits.
“We matched their strength,” said Yogyog. He said more soldiers were deployed and the gun battle continued until past 3 p.m. yesterday.
Former workers of the cooperative, apparently bearing a grudge for their ouster from the cooperative, joined the Abu Sayyaf in the clash against soldiers. One of the slain bandits was identified as Aleman Bottong, a former cooperative official, according to Yogyog.
Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said aside from Bottong, four other bandits were dead in the clash.
Yogyog said bandits are preying on workers in the rubber plantation because it is harvest season for province.
“The rubber business is booming and it’s ( rubber) considered to be as precious as gold so armed men, especially the Abu Sayyaf and other lawless elements, are taking advantage not just by sending extortion letters but by stealing rubber saps,” Yogyog said.
Yogyog said the series of attacks on Tarbidci workers were not isolated cases.
Cooperatives or familyowned rubber plantations in the towns of Maluso, Sumisip, Ungkaya Pukan and Tipo-tipo reported continuing harass-
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the ment from armed groups, he said.
Rubber tappers in the village of Calang Canas in Maluso town and in Tumahubong were the latest victims of harassment, according to Tarbidci manager Taha Katoh.
“Armed men are making it difficult for our workers to go to the field,” he said. “It’s either our workers are ambushed or killed because we refuse to give in to their extortion demands,” he added.
Arnold Yap, of the Department of Trade and Industry in Basilan, said a kilogram of rubber sap is worth at least P110.
There are some 21,700 hectares of land planted to rubber trees throughout Basilan.
Maj. Harold Cabunoc, Army spokesperson, said more soldiers were sent to the area as reinforcements.
“[ While] we are saddened by the untimely deaths of our soldiers, our focused military operations against the bandits will continue,” Cabunoc said in a statement.
“We will not allow the criminals to disturb the peace, targeting innocent civilians in a mixed Muslim- Christian community in Tumahubong village. Banditry has no place in a civilized world,” he added.