‘We do not negotiate with terrorists’

MANILA, Philippines - The government will not negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf, which has threatened to behead one of the two German hostages it is holding, saying it was a criminal gang seeking to cash in on its self-proclaimed allegiance to Islamic State jihadists.

“We do not negotiate with terrorists,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters when asked about the P250-million ransom demand.

The SITE terrorism monitoring group said Tuesday the Abu Sayyaf warned it would carry out its threat within 15 days unless ransom is paid and Berlin halts support for the US-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Germany also insisted it would not withdraw support for US action against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria despite the ultimatum.

Gazmin confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a German man and woman at sea earlier this year as they sailed a yacht off Palawan.

“What the Abu Sayyaf is doing is like propaganda, so that the government will give in to their demands. We will not be intimidated by these gestures and actions,” he said in a separate radio interview, adding that the group has weakened and is contained in small areas.

“They saw what the ISIS has been doing, so they used that to increase the ransom,” Gazmin said, in reaction to the photos released by SITE showing a masked militant with a machete beside a gray-haired Caucasian man.

The Abu Sayyaf is holding at least 10 foreigners, including two European birdwatchers kidnapped in February 2012.

After the money

Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) commander Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero brushed aside Abu Sayyaf’s links with ISIS, saying the former’s activities were merely “criminal in nature.”

“They are taking advantage of the international attention ISIS is getting so that the ransom would increase,” he said.

Security analyst Rommel Banlaoi said the militants were mainly interested in securing a large ransom for the German hostages, rather than in any political gesture.

“They are after the money,” said Banlaoi from the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, adding that the group was trying to re-brand itself “to justify its existence” via professions of allegiance to the Islamic State militants.

Acting Westmincom spokesman Col. Rodrigo Gregorio said they are verifying the supposed pictures of the captives.

Meanwhile, Joel Maturan, former mayor of Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan, said the Abu Sayyaf has been recruiting new members for their own group and not the ISIS.

“They even promised to shoulder and handle the payment of dowry and pay up to P50,000 each for those schooled and P30,000 for those who are unschooled,” he said in a telephone interview.

He said new recruits are being trained in marksmanship, bomb making and demolition.