Manila, 19 September (ENI)— Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders in the Philippines have strongly criticised a massive military offensive launched at the weekend against an extremist group of Muslims behind a spate of highly-publicised kidnappings in the south of the Philippines.
The offensive was launched to free 19 hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf group on the island of Jolo almost 1000 kilometres south of the capital, Manila. An additional battalion of soldiers was dispatched on 18 September to boost the 4000 troops already in the southern region.
The Abu Sayyaf, whose origins go back to the mid-1990s, has received widespread international attention following a series of high-profile kidnappings. In April this year, the group kidnapped a group of tourists from a Malaysian diving resort and brought them to the southern Philippines. The tourists were set free after Libya, which helped negotiate their release, contributed millions of dollars in "development funds" to the Abu Sayyaf.
Two French journalists, who have also been kidnapped, are still being held by Abu Sayyaf, along with three Malaysians, a Filipino television evangelist Wilde Almeda and 11 of his followers, another Filipino and an American man. They are apparently being held by different factions of the Abu Sayyaf.
The spokesman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Bishop Nestor Carino, has rejected newspaper reports that the Catholic hierarchy has endorsed the military action. "The bishops do not support an assault against the Abu Sayyaf," he said. "My dictionary clearly states that an assault is a violent and sudden action. We are against violence. Although the CBCP condemns the kidnappings, it supports moves to return to the negotiating table."
Sharon Rose Ruiz-Duremdes, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) - which groups mainstream Protestant denominations - said that the churches "cannot and will not support an all-out military attack that will endanger incalculable innocent lives. A militarist approach will only exacerbate the problem."
However, Bishop Osias Jaim, of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, has given limited support to the offensive, describing it as "decisive action" that was "long overdue". Bishop Jaim, who is based in the Philippines' biggest southern island, Mindanao, pointed out that the Abu Sayyaf had razed the center of the town of Ipil in 1997 and had made kidnapping "the order of the day" in Jolo.
"The government must apprehend them, as it should all criminal elements. But there should be no overkill," Bishop Jaim said.
However, the Philippines government has rejected calls both for negotiations and for a ceasefire to enable the wounded to be taken to safety. "I think events have overtaken us. We're way beyond that already," said the presidential spokesman, Ricardo Puno, adding that now that the assault was under way, a ceasefire would compromise the military action.
News reports quoted evacuees from the region who said up to 600 civilians from three towns in the region were killed or wounded in the first two days of intense fighting. Six members of the Abu Sayyaf have been reported killed, and six soldiers wounded. Many injured civilians are believed to be trapped in the area because of a tight military blockade. A news blackout has been imposed.
According to Bishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the CBCP, the military action is unlikely to save the hostages or capture the extremists. "We do not seem to have neither the trained personnel nor the planning skills to do it. Our intelligence sources including reports are poor and speculative. What is worse is that instead of keeping their options close to their chest, government and military officials are tripping over each other to tell one and all what they are doing and planning," he said last week.
The events in Jolo have plunged the Philippines and the
government of President Joseph Estrada into a national crisis and
exacerbated the country's deep financial problems. The peso's
value against the US dollar is at its lowest in months, stock
market values have dropped considerably, and foreign investor
confidence has fallen in the face of the government's failure to
end the hostage-taking.