Philippine and U.S. military officials give rewards to two Filipino spies in Zamboanga City. (Contributed Photos/Dave Las Marias)ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Apr) – Filipino and U.S. military officials rewarded Thursday two civilian informers, who provided intelligence to soldiers that led to the killings of two Abu Sayyaf sub-leaders in the troubled southern Philippine region.
The duo, both wearing ski masks, received a total of US$85,000 in a ceremony held inside the military’s Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.
Regional military chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said the two men provided vital information to soldiers leading to the deaths of Abu Sayyaf sub-leaders leaders Jumdan Jamalul and Binang Sali in separate clashes in January in Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands.
Both men had been implicated in the kidnappings of Filipinos and American citizens in 2001 and the raid on Sipadan island in Malaysia in 2000 where the Abu Sayyaf took 21 Asian and European holiday-makers.
Cedo, accompanied by Navy Commander James Marvin, of the US Defense Department, handed the bounty to the two informants, both Muslims.
“We laud these two men for their bravery. The fight against terrorism will continue,” Cedo told the Mindanao Examiner.
The Philippine military in March also rewarded an informant with one million pesos for helping security forces capture a notorious Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Abdullah Mohammad implicated in the kidnapping of three American citizens seven years ago.
The United States also rewarded $2,500 to the same informant for the capture of Mohammad, who is included in Washington’s terror lists, in Zamboanga City.
The military implicated Mohammad in the 2000 kidnapping of Kansas missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and California man Guillermo Sobero and 17 other Filipino holiday-makers at the posh Dos Palmas resort in the central Philippine province of Palawan.
He was also linked to the kidnappings of dozens of people in Basilan island off Zamboanga in 2000, where 11 hostages had been beheaded.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist group and offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of its known leader. The Abu Sayyaf is said to be coddling Indonesian and Malaysian Jemaah Islamiya bombers in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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