EDITORIAL - Remember the kidnapping in Sulu?

Remember Norie Bendijo, Emily Mantic and sisters Cleofe and Flor Montulo? Three weeks ago they were seized with four other victims by gunmen in Sulu. The kidnappers, believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf, later freed a Muslim couple and held on to the six remaining captives, all of them members of the Jehovah’s Witness who were selling various items in the capital Jolo. A day after the kidnapping, the heads of the two male captives were found separately in the public market of Jolo. To this day the women remain in the hands of the kidnappers.

The military was quick to point out that the kidnappers were not members of the Abu Sayyaf, the terrorist group that was supposed to have been neutralized by the six-month military exercises in Basilan between Philippine and American troops. How the military came to this conclusion is not clear. Decapitating Christian captives has long been a trademark of the Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf faction, whose leader, Khadaffy Janjalani, is believed to have slipped out of the island even before the war games started.

Relatives of the victims asked the government to suspend military operations to pave the way for negotiations. The military, however, balked at the kidnappers’ demand for a troop pullout from Sulu. Days after the abduction, the military was supposed to have launched an offensive. What has happened?

It may be too much to ask for results in just three weeks. After all, it took the Armed Forces a year to find the Abu Sayyaf’s remaining captives from the Dos Palmas caper, and even then the kidnappers managed to escape. At the time of the raid on Dos Palmas there wasn’t even a fight for the post of Armed Forces chief of staff, which could have distracted the military from its task. Now a new man has been appointed as AFP chief, and he is expected to be gone even before he has warmed his seat. Another matter that requires the AFP’s attention these days is the flood of deportees from Malaysia.

The kidnapping in Sulu, however, cannot be ignored. If the culprits are truly plain bandits and not Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, then it should be easier for government troops to find the kidnappers and rescue the victims. The nation is awaiting results.