ZAMBOANGA CITY?With the shock still fresh over the beheading of a school principal in Sulu province, gunmen in military uniforms were reported to have abducted four men in Maluso town, Basilan province.

Some 30 gunmen stormed a plywood factory early Tuesday and seized Jerry Tan, Michael Tan, 27; Oscar Tan Lu, 51; and Mark Singson, according to Rear Adm. Alexander Pama, commander of the Western Mindanao Naval Forces.

Senior Supt. Abubakar Tulawie, the police chief of Basilan, said among those being investigated was a company guard who had admitted that his son was a member of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

?But we don?t see it as an inside job,? Tulawie said. ?We are not accusing the MILF here. An investigation is still ongoing.?

Pama said the raiders burst into the compound of High-Tech Woodcraft Corp. at Sitio Tehem in Barangay Townsite at past midnight and took the four men at gunpoint.

But Basilan Vice Gov. Al Rasheed Sakalahul said police had reported only three captives. He named them as Michael Tan, Oscar Tan Lu and Mark Singson.

Director Felizardo Serapio Jr., chief of the Western Mindanao Directorate for Integrated Police Operations, said two of the men taken were Chinese nationals.

It still has to be determined if they are relatives of local Chinese businessman George Tan, the owner of the plywood factory, Serapio said.

Only on Monday, the severed head of Gabriel Canizares?the principal of Kanagi Elementary School in Patikul, Sulu?was found in his own backpack off a gasoline station in Jolo town, capital of Sulu.

The beheading of Canizares is an embarrassment for the Philippine government, which is preparing to welcome visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The body of Canizares, 36, was found 2 kilometers away in Patikul town, also on Monday. He was abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Jolo on Oct. 19.

?Very aggressive? pursuit

Commenting on Tuesday?s kidnapping, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he had ordered the Basilan Crisis Management Committee to ?come up with a very aggressive pursuit operation to discourage future efforts of this nature.?

Puno declined to go into details beyond saying that ?there will be more visible changes in the way the government deals with kidnapping, and hopefully, this will result in fewer cases in the future.?

He said kidnapping was a serious matter because it had ?a terroristic component.?

Quoting police reports, Sakalahul said the kidnappers carried high-powered firearms and were ?disguised as military [men].?

Serapio said the kidnappers actually broke into the compound of High-Tech Woodcraft Corp. ?because the fences are made of wood.? He said the gunmen and their captives headed in the direction of Sumisip town in Basilan.

Puno did not identify the group behind the abduction but added: ?We already have some ideas on who were behind this.?

?Lesson for everybody?

At the Palace, Anthony Golez, a spokesperson of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said he doubted that those who had beheaded Canizares intended it as a statement to Clinton.

He expressed the belief that it was done in retaliation for the military and police operations against the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.

?But we can?t say that we are not embarrassed by that incident,? Golez told reporters at a briefing.

?This is going to be a lesson for everybody?that a fight against terrorism is the fight of everyone. So we can say that this will not just embarrass the government but [also] affect the entire country when it comes to terrorism,? he added.

The beheading of Canizares could have been the result of his family?s failure to raise the ransom demand of P2 million, the military had said.

But according to the police, it was a retaliatory move for the arrest on Saturday of MILF commander Asnawie Addan Salah.

The bandit group that abducted Canizares ?shared its men? with Salah?s troops, the police had said.

Peace process in talks

Clinton is scheduled to meet with Ms Arroyo on Thursday in Malacañang to discuss the peace process in Mindanao, climate change and disaster management and regional issues.

Gary Olivar, Ms Arroyo?s spokesperson on economic matters, said he did not think Canizares? beheading would figure in the high-level talks during Clinton?s Nov. 12-13 visit.

?We don?t run a foreign policy reactively. Just because an incident [occurred]?and this is what the other side wants us to do, they want to influence our timing, as well as the content of our governance?that?s not going to happen,? Olivar said in an ambush interview.

?Regardless of what the Abu Sayyaf does, that will be dealt with separately as a criminal matter,? he said.

Olivar, however, said he would not be surprised if the talks between Clinton and the President would also touch on terrorism.

?[US] Ambassador Kristie Kenney has expressed the expectation that Secretary Clinton will want to focus on Asian issues. If terrorism is part of that, it will probably have an Asian theme to it,? he said.

Since it was formed in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf has carried out kidnappings, killings and bombings. It has abducted other nationals, including Americans, in exchange for huge payoffs.