US troops move deeper into Basilan

US special forces moved deeper into the remote jungle-clad hills of Basilan island to join Filipino soldiers pressing their assault on Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

"This is a building process," said Lt. Col. David Maxwell, head of the US contingent in Basilan as four helicopters ferried US troops from their main base in Zamboanga City for the joint operations against the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The deployment came a day after an ambush staged by the Abu Sayyaf left two Filipino soldiers wounded.

Part of about 80 US Special Forces in Basilan left their camp in Tabiawan for the rebel-infested hinterlands aboard armored personnel carriers, trucks and pickups, accompanied by Philippine Scout Rangers and Marines.

Fifty-one US Green Beret commandos have been in Tabiawan since Sunday to help train Filipino troops in combat against the Abu Sayyaf, while 30 more flew in Tuesday night.

"Flying at night was part of the value. We are taking advantage of the opportunity for training the troops by sending them at night," said Maj. Cynthia Teramae, spokeswoman for the US Joint Task Force.

The final batch of the US troops is expected to arrive in Zamboanga over the next two days.

Officials said the American troops will spread out over various military outposts in the island, with not more than two or three at any one post.

There were no sightings of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who have been holding an American missionary couple and a Filipino nurse for nearly nine months now.

The hostages, Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas were seized in the posh resort of Dos Palmas in Palawan on May 27 last year, while nurse Ediborah Yap was abducted during an Abu Sayyaf raid of Lamitan town in Basilan last June 2.

One hundred sixty US special forces will join some 6,000 Filipino troops stationed in Basilan for a joint military exercise meant to upgrade the fighting skills of local troops against terrorism.

Another 500 US personnel will be on standby in nearby Zamboanga City and in Cebu City.

Reuters viewed the exercise as the "biggest expansion of Washington’s war on terror after the campaign in Afghanistan."

US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the Philippines was one of the countries where the US would maintain a "forward presence."

Also on Tuesday, the US troops tested their night vision capabilities, landing at Tabiawan by Chinook MH-47 helicopters at dead of night and bedding on the land strip until morning.

Lights at the camp were turned off and photographers there were asked not to use their flashes as it would affect the night vision equipment.

The Philippine military said the lack of night vision gear has been a major drawback in their fight against the Abu Sayyaf.

In their latest sorties out of Zamboanga to Tabiawan, the Chinooks brought in huge crates slung under their belly, with one of the crates containing razor-sharp concertina barbed wires to be used as perimeter security fence for the camps of the US troops.

The US troops were on a mission to assess and determine the strength of their target areas of the joint training exercise.

The ambush took place about seven kilometers from the Tabiawan camp.

The Philippine military dispatched two MG-520 helicopter gunships and Navy gunboats to the area to pursue the Abu Sayyaf.

The fighting occurred just before Filipino soldiers rescued two brothers near the capital town of Isabela from the hands of an Abu Sayyaf faction that seized them on Sunday.

Tuesday’s clash was the first outbreak of violence in Basilan since US troops arrived in the island, a long-time stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

Meanwhile, Sen. Noli de Castro, concerned over the plight of soldiers facing great risks during anti-terrorism campaigns, batted for a pay increase for the troops to make it competitive with other civil servants.

De Castro filed Senate Bill 2019 adjusting the salary of soldiers to enhance professionalism in the ranks and improve their standards of living.

As proposed by De Castro, the basic pay of a general will increase from P19,173 to P28,875 a month. A private, on the other hand, will receive P9,939 a month, up by P4,776 from the present rate of P5,775.

De Castro pointed out that the soldier’s basic pay was not comparable to that of the policeman which was upgraded by the Philippine National Police Act.

At the same time, De Castro pushed for the early passage of a bill providing educational benefits for orphans of soldiers killed in the line of duty.

In another development, Yap’s family complained about alleged "uneven concern" of the government in the rescue of the Abu Sayyaf hostages.

David Pamaran, older brother of Yap, noted that the Arroyo administration appeared concerned only about the rescue of the Burnhams.

"There was no mention of Ediborah and the other hostages, except the American couple, as if to give the impression that the other hostages were not equally important," Pamaran told reporters upon arrival at the Manila Domestic Airport

The Philippine Nurses Association and the Association of Former Seminarians and Friends Inc. planned to hold a prayer rally at the EDSA Shrine for the successful rescue of the hostages. — Rey Arquiza, Sandy Araneta, Roel Pareño