ARMM execs Abu Sayyaf targets

ONE OF THE most recent victims of the Abu Sayyaf, German national Viktor Stefan Okonek, is shown at an Abu Sayyaf camp, days before he and his companion, also a German national, were released after the payment of a P250-million ransom. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The crime group Abu Sayyaf has also been trying to extort money from officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), in addition to kidnappings, for its recruitment and training activities.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said he was among those the Abu Sayyaf had targeted for extortion.

Hataman said a man, who identified himself as an aide of Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, had called him up, asking the governor to give “alms.”

The giving of alms is among the five pillars of Islam.

But Hataman said clerics had trashed the Abu Sayyaf’s solicitation of alms as a form of extortion because those who would not give cash, ranging from P50,000 to P200,000, were in danger of being harmed or kidnapped.

It was not immediately known if any ARMM official had given money to the Abu Sayyaf but those who had refused had become targets of attacks, he said.

Hataman cited last month’s attack on Basilan district engineer Soler Isnain Undug. Suspected Abu Sayyaf members lobbed an explosive at Undug’s house in Purok Yakal in Barangay San Rafael, Isabela City. No one was injured in the attack but a car and a cottage were damaged.

Undug had confirmed that the attack came after he rejected the Abu Sayyaf’s demand for P200,000.

Also last month, an improvised explosive device went off in front of the Cargill Oilmill staff house, also in Isabela City, while authorities foiled another bomb attack, this time against oil firm Caltex’s depot in Isabela City.

The extortion activities by the Abu Sayyaf were among reasons why the 12 mayors of Basilan signed a manifesto calling for an all-out offensive against the crime group, which has links with the international terror network al-Qaida, Hataman said.

Sumisip Mayor Gulam Hataman told the Inquirer that he and town officials had ignored the extortion attempts against them.

Former Ungkaya Pukan Mayor Joel Maturan said the Abu Sayyaf wanted to sustain its recruitment and training activities through extortion and kidnappings.

Maturan said that based on information he had received, new Abu Sayyaf recruits would get P15,000 per month. Liza Jocson, Inquirer Mindanao