It never fails to surprise the ever-urbane modern Filipino, (in whom outrage can be sparked by a little Chip Tsao) how very many persons have actually been beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf Groups in the Southern Philippines in the 21st Century alone. The list of names I have compiled below is incomplete but ought to stand out as bloody violations of Philippine sovereignty, if not Philippine self-respect. That these serial acts of inhumane illegal detention, kidnap for ransom, torture and murder have continued unabated, and are even rationalized, justified or defended by some seriously deluded folks, suggests a major mental dysfunction in the Philippine body politic.
GUILLERMO SOBERO
The Atlantic Magazine's article, Jihadists in Paradise tells the story of Guillermo Sobero, who was the first person I had ever heard about to have been beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf, way back in 2001, several months before the September 11 attacks in New York. This is a very long article that spans the Dos Palmas raid and the year of agony for the whole nation that ensued, including the story Martin and Gracia Burnham, and the dozens of Filipinos that suffered with them (though not GMA's billionaire pal, Reghis Romero).
The Atlantic Magazine's article, Jihadists in Paradise tells the story of Guillermo Sobero, who was the first person I had ever heard about to have been beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf, way back in 2001, several months before the September 11 attacks in New York. This is a very long article that spans the Dos Palmas raid and the year of agony for the whole nation that ensued, including the story Martin and Gracia Burnham, and the dozens of Filipinos that suffered with them (though not GMA's billionaire pal, Reghis Romero).
ELMER NATALARAY and eight other Juan de la Cruzes
Among these lesser known persons was 24-year old Filipino Elmer Natalaray who was beheaded by Commander Robot (UK Telegraph) along with eight other hostaged Christian males after they did Sobero in a ritualistic murder, memorably chronicled at the Belmont Club as a "ribbon cutting ceremony."
VISAYAN SUMMER STUDENTS
One of the most senseless of the ASG Al Bader Parad's decapitation sprees--and the most heartbreaking--is the one involving six hapless and totally innocent summer students from the Visayas working on a Sulu road construction gang, and a dried fish vendor who just happened to be taken with them, whose name is however unknown, though the six students were:
VISAYAN SUMMER STUDENTS
One of the most senseless of the ASG Al Bader Parad's decapitation sprees--and the most heartbreaking--is the one involving six hapless and totally innocent summer students from the Visayas working on a Sulu road construction gang, and a dried fish vendor who just happened to be taken with them, whose name is however unknown, though the six students were:
ROGER FRANCISCO,
WILNER SANTOS
WILNER SANTOS
JELOWIE TEODORO
NONOY AMPOY
TOTO MILAS
DENNIS DE LOS REYES.
UNNAMED DRIED FISH VENDOR
PHILIPPINE MARINES LOOKING FOR FR. BOSSI
ABSCBN News first posted the list of the TEN PHILIPPINE MARINES who were ambushed, killed and beheaded whilst searching for the later ransomed and vamoosed Fr. Giancarlo Bossi...
EMMANUEL BEUP
REUBEN DORONIO JR.
FREDDIE PALMA JR.
ELIZAR SEMENIANO
ARJORIN ALEZAR
JHONARD ALLANZA
WILFREDO LAMBAN
EMILIO LACHICA JR.
RUSSELL PANAGA
RUSSELL PANAGA
REY CALAUENG
GERARDO LICUP
CAYETANO SIMBANGON
BERNARD ABES
NOEL BAUTISTA
Picture Writing (Rizalist MP3 at the Internet Archive)
1 comment:
Interesting, but incomplete.
If you want to understand the evolution of the ASG, you need to go back a bit further, to the connection between Abdurajak Janjalani and Mohammed al Khalifa in 1990, which is where the ASG formally came from. This is the connection that's referred to in the constant references to "links" between the ASG and Al Qaeda.
Janjalani was killed in 1998, and it's widely believed that it was other elements in the ASG leadership that turned him in. Since that time the ASG has been controlled by individuals who have their roots more in the criminal underworld than in Islamist ideology, and there is little or no evidence of connection to AQ after Janjalani's death.
I personally do not think the ASG should be dignified with the "terrorist" label. They might be more accurately termed a bandit group claiming a very nominal Islamist agenda in an attempt to legitimize what is essentially a criminal enterprise.
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