US commander: Sabaya is dead

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Even the United States got into the act of squelching Filipinos’ skepticism on the death of Abu Sabaya last Friday.

Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of US troops in the Balikatan military exercise in Mindanao, said the US Navy SEAL commandos will not bring in expensive salvage ships to find the remains of the Abu Sayyaf spokesman.

"I do not think it’s worth... investing to recover the bodies of criminals that we know are dead," Wurster said.

He told reporters that he was willing to "bet" his month’s paycheck that Sabaya is dead.

However, Wurster said the US forces are providing the Philippine Navy with "drift information, current, and wind pattern" in the search operations and "our SEALs and soldiers are working together."

Citing that the recovery of the body of Sabaya, whose real name is Aldam Tilao, would be a "psychological turning point" in the Philippine government’s anti-terrorism campaign, acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said Manila is prepared to ask Washington to use its sophisticated equipment and facilities to retrieve Sabaya’s remains.

Sabaya, 39, is presumed to have been fatally shot and fallen into the Sulu Sea in a clash with the Philippine Navy’s elite commando unit on June 21 while attempting to escape aboard a pumpboat in Mantibu Point off Sibuco town in Zamboanga del Norte.

Philippine Navy and Marine forces — backed by helicopters and gunboats and aided by local fishermen — have been scouring the waters off Sibuco town.

Two of Sabaya’s followers were also killed in Friday’s pre-dawn clash, while four others were captured. One of the four died of heart attack Saturday.

Military interrogation of the surviving Sabaya followers revealed Sabaya was indeed hit and had fallen into the waters when the military pumpboat rammed into the fleeing bandit’s boat.

Wurster, commander of the Joint Task Force 510 US forces participating in Balikatan 02-1, rejected suggestions to use high-tech equipment and facilities to repeat what they did in retrieving the US Army MH47E Chinook helicopter that crashed and sank off Negros Oriental in February. Ten US soldiers were trapped and killed inside the submerged helicopter.

"We will help, but the idea of bringing in a ship to look for a couple of dead bodies ... that is not a priority for us," he said, even before Malacañang can formally ask for such kind of assistance from the US.

The US had deployed one high-tech navy ship and contracted Jan Steen, a Dutch-owned search and recovery ship, to raise the Chinook and pick up the bodies of 10 US soldiers.

He clarified that the interest of the US government in retrieving the Chinook was to ascertain the cause of its crash and that the recovery of the bodies of the US soldiers was circumstantial.

"It is not within our interest to bring in that kind of a ship here and to look for a body. As a matter of fact, we do not as a matter of policy do that for our own people, much less for a criminal," Wurster said.

However, he said some elite US troops have joined the search for the remains of Sabaya.

"If we have any intelligence indication that Sabaya had survived, which we do not, then I would, of course, pass that immediately," he said.

In Manila, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes assured a skeptical Filipino public that reports of troops on the field indicated that Abu Sabaya was indeed killed in the clash.

"I have no reason to doubt the findings of our filed units that established the fate of Abu Sabaya and his two other cohorts," Reyes said in a statement.

"Although it is now a matter of time before we produce biological evidence of certain death, I am convinced of Sabaya’s demise," the statement said.

Reyes urged the public to avoid casting doubt on the military which could "undermine the character of our soldiers and weaken their resolve in the ongoing campaign against terrorism."

Chances that Sabaya survived after falling into the sea "are deemed minimal even by ordinary folks familiar with those conditions," Reyes said.

The widespread mistrust of government and military announcements on Sabaya’s death can be attributed to allegations that the military itself was involved in the spate of kidnappings that plagued southern Mindanao for years and to Sabaya’s seeming invincibility as he eluded one military dragnet after another by virtual island-hopping.

Malacañang prepared to ask for further US help

Afable said the government is willing to seek further US assistance in the form of the use of its sophisticated equipment and facilities.

"The government is prepared to seek such assistance, depending on its availability and its cost. It’s quite expensive... to retrieve bodies or objects in the deep sea," Afable said.

Afable and National Security Adviser Roilo Golez junked speculations that Sabaya may still be alive and may soon resurface to further taunt the military.

Both Afable and Golez said these kinds of speculations bolster their belief that it is important to recover Sabaya’s remains.

"We would like to stress that Sabaya is already dead," Golez said.

"We have all the reasons, not only to believe, but to declare that Sabaya is dead. Another indication is if Abu Sayyaf were alive, you would be interviewing him now. He cannot keep his mouth shut," Golez said.

"As far as we’re concerned, we continue to go by the preponderance of evidence at hand. The testimonies of those caught in his (Sabaya) company and the testimony of troops who were involved and by all indications, he has been shot and is presumed dead," Afable said.

He said the President has not indicated any time frame for the search of Sabaya’s body.

The Navy has not recommended that the search be called off, "which means to say that there is still a very strong belief on their part they can recover the body," he said.

Former President Fidel Ramos also said Abu Sabaya is dead, citing that the waters of Sirawai are "very deep and full of predators that no one could survive if he falls into it."

Ramos, who made the statement before he left for Hong Kong yesterday, said recovering Sabaya’s body will put a stop to speculations that he survived the clash.

"Knowing the area of the encounter, it would be difficult for someone to survive, let alone if he is wounded," he said.

A television reporter who took the last video footage of US missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham said yesterday that the four captured Abu Sabaya followers were his close-in security and that the four posed with the hostages during the Nov. 25, 2001 interview in Maluso, Basilan.

Arlene de la Cruz said in her radio program on dzXL that a review of the footage of her Nov. 25 exclusive interview revealed that the four were Sabaya’s security guards.

De la Cruz said that Hasan Hamsi, alias Abu Ayub, who died of heart attack Saturday, was the one who made faces while the Burnham couple was delivering their message.

The three other captured Sabaya followers were identified as Andurakman Ismael, Admar Alok, and Margani Isnilon.

On June 7, Martin was killed in a military operation aimed at freeing him, Gracia and nurse Edibora Yap. Yap was also killed in the operation.

In the hail of gunfire, Sabaya managed to escape together with six of his followers. – With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Perseus Echeminada, Rey Arquiza, AFP