Arroyo’s ‘Hands of Steel’ Crush Boy, Old Man; ‘Questionable Deaths’ Mar Campaign Vs Sayyaf
According to the military, 10 Abu Sayyaf terrorists were killed in Patikul, Sulu, on Jan. 18. But an official disclosed that five of the dead were actually MNLF members and that the other fatalities include a 12-year-old boy and a 90-year-old man who angrily stormed a Marine camp after the killing of two relatives, but was shot even before he could approach the entrance.
By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY ? On Jan. 18, the Philippine military announced that 10 alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group had been killed in separate encounters in Sulu province. The government later said that this was yet another boost to the campaign against terrorism.
But a public official in Jolo, the capital of Sulu, who is also an organizer for a human-rights group, belied those claims on Friday, saying that five of the fatalities were actually members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Worse, according to Temugen Tulawie, a councilor of Jolo town, among those killed were a 90-year-old man, and a mini-bus driver and his 12-year-old son.
In fact, the old man, identified as Sarail Jaynaltul, was shot not in an encounter but when he stormed a Marine camp in indignation over the death that same day of his grandson and son-in-law, Tulawie said.
If the accusation that the Arroyo administration was behind the bombings in Mindanao earlier this month turns out to be true, then this has got to be the worst scenario ever cooked up by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s military intelligence experts to justify their agenda of convincing the public of a need to pass an anti-terror measure.