A masked Filipino military informer, who helped troops capture a wanted Abu Sayyaf militant Toting Hanno last year on Sacol island, receives over P5 million in bounty from a U.S. government official as Philippine Army Col. Domingo Tutaan looks on Jan. 17, 2005 inside the Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City. (Zamboanga Journal)ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 17 Jan) U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Paul Jones on Tuesday rewarded a Filipino civilian over $100,000 in bounty for helping local military forces in the capture of a wanted Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in the kidnapping of four American citizens.
Jones handed the money to the masked informer inside the tightly guarded Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City. "The U.S. will continue to work closely with the Philippines in the war against terror," he said.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop called the Filipino a “courageous individual who stood against terrorism," for the arrest last year of Toting Hanno, who was linked by the Filipino authorities to the May 2001 kidnapping of Kansas missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, and Californinan Guillermo Sobero from the posh Dos Palmas island resort in Palawan in central Philippines.
Guillermo Sobero was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf in June 2001 in Basilan island, while Martin Burnham was shot and killed the next year during a U.S.-led military rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte province. Burnham's wife Gracia was rescued by Filipino army rangers, but also had been shot and wounded by her abductors.
Jones said Hanno was also part of a group that kidnapped U.S. citizen Jerrrey Craig Shilling in Jolo island in 2000.
The military said Hanno was originally arrested in May 2002, but escaped in Basilan jail a year later and captured again on Sacol island off Zamboanga City after the informer led soldiers to his hideout.
Washington offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who is believed to be the local contact of the al-Qaeda terror network of Usama bin Laden. The U.S. government has paid thousands of dollars in rewards for the arrest and killing of many Abu Sayyaf leaders since 2002.
After the ceremony, Jones, together with other senior U.S. and Filipino officials proceeded to a remote village in Zamboanga City and donated books and other learning materials to the Culianan Learning Center.
"I am so happy by the warm reception that we got from these children. We are so proud to be part of helping the education in the Philippines, in Zamboanga City," Jone said.
Jones was so elated by the presence of hundreds of school children waving U.S. and Philippine flags that he went out of his way to shake hands with them.
The children waited for Jones for about 30 minutes under the sun and when his convoy arrived they started clapping their hands and waving the flags they made for two days to welcome the U.S. government officials. A brass band also played music.
Jones also spoke with Gaspar Salin, a nine-year old disable student, who asked for a wheel chair. Salin, despite his condition, also waved a small U.S. flag that caught the attention of Jones.
"Uncle Paul, please help me, please give me a new wheel chair," he told Jones, who promised to send one for the boy. Salin said his dilapidated wheel chair was also donated by U.S. soldiers who trained local troops three years ago in Zamboanga City.
"We are so happy that Gaspar will soon have a new wheel chair," said Josefina Lacastesantos, the school principal.
Jones also spoke with Gaspar Salin, a nine-year old disable student, who asked for a wheel chair. Salin, despite his condition, also waved a small U.S. flag that caught the attention of Jones.
"Uncle Paul, please help me, please give me a new wheel chair," he told Jones, who promised to send one for the boy. Salin said his dilapidated wheel chair was also donated by U.S. soldiers who trained local troops three years ago in Zamboanga City.
"We are so happy that Gaspar will soon have a new wheel chair," said Josefina Lacastesantos, the school principal.
"Mr Jones is really a kind man. He visited us and gave the children books. We are really thankful to the Americans. We will never forget this day," she said.
Jones inspected at least four classrooms and spoke with the students and teachers. He pledged to send more help to the school.
The Culianan Learning Center is the latest elementary school to benefit from the Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS) Project, a five-year flagship education initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Mindanao.
Culianan is pioneering a flexible learning system that is based on the Department of Education’s (DepEd’s) revised basic education curriculum or RBEC.
"Culianan utilizes carefully developed learning modules designed for peer-to-peer teaching and community involvement in the classroom. The flexible learning system, originally developed by SEAMEO INNOTECH and adopted by DepEd with support from USAID, is known as IMPACT (instructional Management by Parents, Community and Teachers)."
"IMPACT is improving educational access and quality by addressing overcrowding in classrooms and reducing the number of elementary drop-outs," the USAID EQuALLS said in a statement.
Jones inspected at least four classrooms and spoke with the students and teachers. He pledged to send more help to the school.
The Culianan Learning Center is the latest elementary school to benefit from the Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS) Project, a five-year flagship education initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Mindanao.
Culianan is pioneering a flexible learning system that is based on the Department of Education’s (DepEd’s) revised basic education curriculum or RBEC.
"Culianan utilizes carefully developed learning modules designed for peer-to-peer teaching and community involvement in the classroom. The flexible learning system, originally developed by SEAMEO INNOTECH and adopted by DepEd with support from USAID, is known as IMPACT (instructional Management by Parents, Community and Teachers)."
"IMPACT is improving educational access and quality by addressing overcrowding in classrooms and reducing the number of elementary drop-outs," the USAID EQuALLS said in a statement.
In addition to supporting flexible learning options, the USAID EQuALLS project is also providing in-service training to thousands of teachers in Mindanao, particularly in Math, Science, and English.
EQuALLS also strives to reintegrate large numbers of out-of-school youth by offering expanding opportunities for non-formal education and vocational skills training.
USAID is helping to implement DepEd’s new standard curriculum for private Madaris that incorporates Math, Science, English, and Filipino into traditional course of study.
In November, Jones and USAID assistant administrator James Kunder and Jon Lindborg, mission director for the Philippines; and John Dalton, of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) handed over almost half a million pesos worth of port infrastructure projects and donated Internet-ready computers to Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Jones assured that Washington will continue to provide humanitarian projects to the Philippines, which is the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in East Asia after Indonesia.
U.S. humanitarian projects to the Philippines averaged between $80 million to $90 million over the last several years and much of these are focused in Mindanao.
The USAID is carrying out a broad range of innovative programs in the country to promote investment and good governance to stimulate economic growth and job creation needed to reduce poverty, especially in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
Its programs include population and health and nutrition, economic development and governance, energy and environment, education, conflict reduction and humanitarian assistance.
In November, Jones and USAID assistant administrator James Kunder and Jon Lindborg, mission director for the Philippines; and John Dalton, of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) handed over almost half a million pesos worth of port infrastructure projects and donated Internet-ready computers to Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Jones assured that Washington will continue to provide humanitarian projects to the Philippines, which is the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in East Asia after Indonesia.
U.S. humanitarian projects to the Philippines averaged between $80 million to $90 million over the last several years and much of these are focused in Mindanao.
The USAID is carrying out a broad range of innovative programs in the country to promote investment and good governance to stimulate economic growth and job creation needed to reduce poverty, especially in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
Its programs include population and health and nutrition, economic development and governance, energy and environment, education, conflict reduction and humanitarian assistance.
USAID also launched its Computer Literacy and Internet Connection (CLIC) program that is concentrated in the Muslim autonomous region. It has so far benefited over 125,000 students in more than 200 schools.
And the Livelihood Enhancement and Peace (Leap) program that help assist former fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front make the transition from guerrillas to productive farmers and fishermen. Leap has helped more than 24,000 former rebels in Mindanao.
Other USAID projects in Mindanao include the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (Amore), which helps provide power to small and rural villages. And through its solar-energy program, USAID also brought electricity to remote islands in Tawi-Tawi province.
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