Sayyaf raiders in Basilan behead former soldier

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Abu Sayyaf gunmen who attacked a village and killed nine people in Maluso, Basilan last Monday also snatched and beheaded a retired soldier living in the village, the military said.

Col. Juvymax Uy, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan (JTFB), said the decapitated body and severed head of Julio Macaraig Pasawa were recovered yesterday in Barangay Upper Mahayahay, also in Maluso.

The bandits seized Pasawa, 62, after attacking Barangay Tubigan.

At least 20 Abu Sayyaf bandits in military uniform opened fire and burned five houses and a village hall in the attack on Tubigan. Among the dead were villagers and a militiaman.

Government militiamen were surprised by the dawn attack but later managed to put up resistance with extra troops and drive the attackers away after two hours of heavy fighting, the military said.

Uy said Pasawa, a retired Army master sergeant and an Islamic convert, had been a resident of the village after retiring from the Army as master sergeant.

“Perhaps the Abu Sayyaf group had discovered the victim to be a former soldier and this prompted them to seize him,” Uy said.

The military vowed to run after the Abu Sayyaf bandits involved in last Monday’s attack.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said troops are now hunting down the gunmen responsible for the attack.

“We will make sure that these terrorists will pay for their crimes committed against humanity,” Galvez said. “That is the only way we can achieve justice for the orphans and widows of those who were killed,” he added.

Officials said last Monday’s attack could be a retaliatory move against the villagers.

“These groups (Abu Sayyaf) are obviously desperate to strike back, choosing those who do not have the capacity to fight them,” Galvez said.

Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud condemned the attack.

He said the bandits also destroyed the barangay children’s day care center.

“We in the local government unit of Maluso condemn this barbaric raid in strongest terms. We are now imposing measures to prevent a repeat of such deadly incursion by the Abu Sayyaf,” Bud said.

The provincial government of Basilan and the office of Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao extended initial cash assistance to the 16 villagers wounded in the attack.

Hataman also condemned the attack, saying the militants wanted to divert the military’s focus from an ongoing offensive in Marawi City by attacking even children, women and the elderly.

“They are cowards because they couldn’t face their military adversaries,” Hataman said.

The attack on Barangay Tubigan was the second after seven years. Violence broke out in the village between residents who were members of the local militia and sympathizers of the Abu Sayyaf.

Residents of Barangay Tubigan want the military to put up an Army detachment in the village to prevent another attack from the bandit group.  – With John Unson