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Source By ROEL PAREŅO, PhilStar
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Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
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ZAMBOANGA CITY – After recent battlefield setbacks, the military reported Monday a major breakthrough in its offensive in Mindanao with the wounding of a top Abu Sayyaf leader and the killing of his right-hand man.
Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula was trying to retrieve the remains of his right-hand man Edimar Salip in the middle of a gunbattle with soldiers from the 33rd Infantry Battalion in barangay Tambaking, Maimbung, Jolo when wounded.
“Dr. Abu Pula fell on several occasions but managed to escape minus his right-hand man,” Col. Antonio Mark Supnet, commander of the 104th Army Brigade, said. Later found in Salip’s possession was a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) identification card.
The US government is offering a P5-million reward to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest or death of Jumdail.
The military said the offensive in Sulu was meant to flush out Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue members of the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who were involved in the beheading and mutilation of 10 of the 14 soldiers killed in an ambush on July 10 in Basilan.
The MILF admitted its men ambushed the soldiers but denied responsibility for the beheadings.
Jumdail, a paramedic expert, is one of two senior Abu Sayyaf leaders. The other is Radulan Sahiron.
Jumdail’s son Masdal was killed in the Thursday encounter which left 25 soldiers and 32 Moro rebels killed and several others wounded. Masdal was an aide of Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad.
The military’s “punitive offensive,” to be personally directed by Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, “will not just orchestrate punitive actions against those who maim and kill, but study the peaceful overtures of those who demonstrate remorse,” President Arroyo announced Monday.
Tolentino is in Jolo to oversee the operation.
Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said Tolentino is assessing the situation on the ground.
It was during Tolentino’s stint as commander of the 104th Brigade when disgruntled MNLF chair Nur Misuari and his followers attacked the unit’s headquarters in Barangay Busbus in November 2001.
“With his presence there, actions will be quick for any recommendations of the ground commanders,” Batara said in Manila.
Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, Joint Task Force Comet chief based in Sulu, said Abu Sayyaf and renegade MNLF forces have broken into smaller groups to avoid a major encounter with soldiers.
JI biggies with ASG
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said Monday that two Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts wanted for the Bali bombings in Indonesia in 2002 might be with the Abu Sayyaf bandits who figured in clashes with soldiers last week.
Esperon said there were “strong indications” that Indonesians Umar Patek and Dulmatin were with Sahiron, Jumdail, and Parad when they battled with the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion in Maimbung and Indanan towns.
“We are still getting reports about them, we are verifying that,” Esperon said at a press conference.
Firefights with suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists took place on three consecutive days from Aug. 7. In the Aug. 8 encounter, 11 soldiers were killed, as well as nine MNLF integrees. The Aug. 9 encounter left 15 troopers killed.
Esperon said that the two foreign terrorists have been moving more often following the deaths of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in September last year and its spokesman Jainal Antel Sali alias Abu Solaiman in January.
The US government is offering a reward of $10 million for the neutralization of Dulmatin while Patek carries a $1 million bounty on his head.
Hero’s pilot
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro piloted the aircraft that carried the remains of a soldier from Zamboanga City to Manila, a gesture that he said was his way of honoring a fallen hero.
Teodoro, a reserve Air Force colonel, took the controls of the C130 cargo plane that carried the remains of Army 2Lt. Charlie Anthony Camelon from Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
Camelon, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy’s Maragtas Class of 2007, was slain in an encounter with Abu Sayyaf bandits last Aug. 9. Killed with Camelon were 14 other soldiers.
His remains would be brought to his hometown in Quezon province.
Camelon’s group was pursuing the Abu Sayyaf members who ambushed and killed 11 soldiers in Barangay Dayuan in Maimbung Sulu the previous day.
At a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Teodoro said he was overwhelmed with grief when he and Esperon met the families of the slain troopers.
“On a personal note, the only time I felt severe emotion was Monday (Sunday) when Gen. Esperon and I had to console the widows of this conflict, and secondly when we had to take home the casket of second lieutenant Camelon. There I felt a lot of emotion,” Teodoro said.
New job for Army chief nixed
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon is against the plan of the Palace to appoint retiring Army chief Tolentino to a civilian post that would deal with the military’s campaign against the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.
Biazon, head of the Senate committee on defense and former AFP chief, also wants the government to re-examine its handling of the problem in Sulu and Basilan.
He said the factors that the government should consider in its soul-searching are intelligence information, military capability, and the equipment and materiel available.
Biazon said he was not questioning the qualification of Tolentino as a leader but he said the new job eyed for him might complicate matters.
“I am concerned whether he will be designated to a civilian post under the office of the President or if he will have direct jurisdiction over field commanders overseeing operations in Mindanao,” Biazon said.
Biazon said he is worried Tolentino might not be held for command responsibility if given authority to oversee operations in Mindanao as a retired general.
Sen. Richard Gordon also said he is not in favor of seeing another newly retired military official appointed to a civilian post.
Gordon, who is also chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said he hopes to be enlightened – along with other lawmakers – on recent developments in Mindanao at the National Security Council meeting Tuesday at Malacañang. Senate President Manuel Villar will lead the Senate panel in the NSC conference.
Gordon said he wants to visit Mindanao and make his own assessment of the situation as chairman of PNRC. With James Mananghaya, Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez, AP, AFP
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