Abu Sayyaf Is a Myth

By Erick San Juan

There’s an old saying that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. It seems that even few of our media practitioners and veteran journalist romanticized the myth of the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf group became popular when some of their original leaders were recruited by foreign intelligence agents through their usual conduits in the local force to join the proxy fight of the U.S. against the Russians in Afghanistan. The Russians lost the battle through the mighty strength of several alliances of Asian and Middle Eastern Mujahedeen headed by Osama Bin Laden.

After the Afghan War, some of these Mujahedeen returned home to their native land. The group of Abdurajak Janjalani returned to Mindanao and were recruited by an intelligence unit to penetrate the Muslim Secessionists movements in MINSUPALA (Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan). You can read the complete story in my book “Conspiracies and Controversies.”

What went wrong? Kidnap for ransom became a lucrative business and a cottage industry down south. The problem with those “assets” came when their project was aborted. They were forced to join the elements of “Scalawags” in uniform and politicians who are actually warlords in their provinces. Few of them became bodyguards of these politicians. Just like the late “Robot” who was just a “yayo” or babysitter of the children of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, he then metamorphosed into becoming one of the most deadly bandits who joined the Abu Sayyaf group.

After the Sipadan and Dos Palmas hostage taking incident, most of the Abu Sayyaf leaders were wiped out by our AFP and the PNP except for some of the lesser evil ”assets” like Radulan Sahiron whose name was used to justify the Ces Drilon snafu.

Up to now the Interpol, FBI and European police agencies are still tracing the $20 Million ransom paid by the European hostages given through the help of Moammar Khaddafy.

The group of Ces Drilon might have gotten the Stockholm syndrome by making them believe that the “negotiators” are really helping them. They were shown youngsters in the ages 12 to 15 armed with long firearms.

I was told by our conscientious friends who are respected Muslim leaders in Sulu that most teenagers used in the abductions are not Abu Sayyafs anymore but petty gangsters, drug users and uneducated bully youngsters.

Without the support of these Muslim leaders we will not see the big picture of what’s really going on there. I would like to congratulate the terrorist expert, Gen. Sonny Razon, the PNP Chief, DILG Sec. Ronnie Puno and their units who used the law of common sense and their political will to ferret out the truth about who’s the real brain in the abduction.

Its now high time real civic leaders manage our local government units. Political patronage must be stopped. Sulu is a paradise and could be the next tourist destination if given the chance. It’s local needs such an opportunity so that their people will not be manipulated by gangsters disguising as politicians.