ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 15, 2010) – A driver of a vice mayoralty candidate abducted in the southern Filipino province of Sulu was freed unharmed on Monday by his captors, police said.
Police said the victim Uluh, who works for Pando Mudjasan, was released on a village near Maibung town. Uluh was seized over the weekend by unidentified armed men, said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, of the Sulu provincial police office.
“Mr. Pando Mudjasan accompanied the driver to the police office to say that the victim was freed unharmed this morning. We are investigating this case to determine the motive of the abduction – whether it was a family feud or not,” Baanan told the Mindanao Examiner.
Police said the victim’s employer, Mudjasan, is a vice mayoralty candidate in Maimbung.
Earlier reports said Mudjasan himself was also abducted, but police said only his driver was seized in Maibung on Sunday. Sulu is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
A trader Yusof Lidangan was also abducted at the weekend in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province on Mindanao Island.
No groups or individual claimed responsibility for the abductions. And it was not immediately known if the Abu Sayyaf group or criminal syndicates was behind the abductions or not.
Authorities have previously blamed Abu Sayyaf militants in kidnappings in Sulu and Mindanao, although Moro rebels and criminal groups also prey to wealthy traders.
Kidnappings for ransom have virtually become a lucrative business for rebels and crime syndicates with the money they get as a source of funding for the purchase of illegal weapons and to finance future terror attacks. (Mindanao Examiner)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Abducted driver of poll bet freed; Lanao trader kidnapped in South RP
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Politicians in tug-of-war over Maguindanao vacancies
COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 14, 2010) - The protracted selection process for a full slate of officers-in-charge in the provincial government of Maguindanao is heating up with the alleged intervention of Church-backed sectors which are also supporting opposition presidential bid of Senator Benigno Aquino III.
Sources in the province said the problem in the selection process in Maguindanao even grew more complicated after conservative Muslim leaders joined the tug-of-war against the perceived “church interference” in the local affairs of the largely Muslim province.
Maguindanao is one of five provinces under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which is a known bailiwick of President Gloria Arroyo, whose presidential candidate is former defense chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Supporters of former congressman, Guimid Matalam, are also endorsing him to be the acting governor or officer-in-charge of Maguindanao province. At least 20 others are also interested in the same position, but some of them are known influential politicians in Maguindanao - Asnawi Sinsuat Limbona, Bongarsa Tomawis, Harris Mastura, Bai Mompong Mentang and Armando Lidasan.
Maguindanao vice governor Nariman Ambolodto is the current officer-in-charge in the province and civil groups backed by some Catholic church leaders are supporting calls for her to serve until June 30 when the elected governor takes over.
Sources did not identify the church leaders backing Ambolodto and Aquino.
Acting ARMM governor Ansaruddin Adiong appointed Ambolodto as acting governor of Maguindanao on December 15. Authorities arrested the governor of Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan Sr and his sons led by ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan after they were implicated in the brutal murders of 57 people, including at least 31 journalists in November 23 in Maguindanao. The Ampatuans denied all the accusations against them.
Despite the charges against the Ampatuans and over a hundred others implicated in the carnage, many of their relatives and family members are also seeking elective posts in the May national polls.
There are also 10 vacancies in the Maguindanao provincial legislative council. More than 100 people have applied or nominated for the various vacancies from the acting governor to the legislative council in Maguindanao.
Adiong earlier created a committee headed by ARMM Interior Secretary Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman to screen all the aspirants to Maguindanao’s vacancies spawned by the indictment and arrest of elected provincial officials in connection to the massacre.
Sources said Adiong gave the screening committee a free hand in the selection of the final list of nominees, from among whom he would appoint promptly.
Other reports said the current governor of Maguindanao is allegedly supporting Aquino’s presidential bid and not Teodoro despite the province’s pro-administration stance. (Mindanao Examiner)
Search continues for Maguindanao massacre weapons
Three months after police and military implicated the powerful Ampatuan clan to the brutal killings of 57 people in the southern Filipino province of Maguindanao, authorities continue searching for weapons used in the carnage.(Mindanao Examiner Photo - Mark Navales)Gunmen allegedly led by Datu unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr allegedly led the November 23 attack. Among those killed were at least 31 journalists who were traveling with a political convoy of the wife of Buluan town vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu.
The Ampatuan and Mangudadatu clans are bitter political foe.
Ampatuan Jr and his father and namesake and brothers and other clan members were also arrested and are facing multiple murder charges in connection with the killings. The Ampatuans all denied involvement in the gruesome murders.
Just recently, members of the National Bureau of Investigation led by Ricardo Diaz searched the sprawling compound of the mansion of Ampatuan Sr in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao after reports suggested illegal weapons were hidden there.
Authorities have recovered more than a thousand assorted light artillery and heavy infantry weapons and hundreds of thousands of munitions in the town after President Gloria Arroyo declared martial law in Maguindanao after the massacre. (Mark Navales contributed to this report)
Basilan, wala pa rin pagbabago
BASILAN (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 14, 2010) – Halos patapos na ang termino ni Basilan Governor Jum Akbar, ngunit nakabitin pa rin ang tanong ng karamihan kung ano ang nagawa nito sa loob ng kanyang matagal ng panunungkulan sa lalawigan.
Wala umanong makitang pagbabago sa lalawigan, maliban sa patuloy na kaguluhan at kidnappings. Wala rin umanong mga development projects at karamihan ay pawang mga infrastructure program ng Armed Forces of the Philippines at US military ang madalas mainagurahan sa Basilan.
Madalas rin umanong nasa Maynila si Akbar kung kaya’t hindi halos matagpuan sa kanyang tanggapan. At kung nasa Basilan man ito ay halos hindi naman nagtatagal, ayon sa mga residente.
Gayun rin naman sa ibang mga alkalde ng lalawigan na madalas ay wala diumano sa kanilang mga tanggapan. Hindi rin mabatid kung saan napupunta ang mga Internal Revenue Allotment ng mga opisyal sa Basilan at walang makitang mga billboard ng proyekto sa lalawigan.
Dapat umanong busisihin ng Commission on Audit ang lahat ng gastuhin sa Basilan at proyekto ng ibat-ibang mga ahensya upang matiyak na nagagamit sa wastong paraan ang pondo ng pamahalaan. (Mindanao Examiner)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Auditors unearth fund mess in ARMM
The Commission on Audit has called the attention of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the P464.38 million the local government has deposited with a bank.
State auditors in their 2008 report said they couldn’t verify the existence of the funds because of the local government’s failure to submit an updated statement from the bank.
The ARMM had a P9.07-billion budget in 2008, which funded the operations of the regional governor and 23 line agencies, auditors said.
Of the P464.38 million in cash in bank, at least P464.12 million came from the department of education.
The local Education department has 14 local bank accounts for its operations, 11 bank accounts for its general fund, and one account each for the Bureau of Madaris or the local fund, the provident fund and a special project.
Auditors said they received financial statements from nine out of the 14 bank accounts for the period ending November 30. They said they did not get statements from the five other accounts.
All the 14 accounts were with the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines. Government agencies are required to update their bank statements monthly.
Apart from the discrepancy in the 2008 annual audit report, the CoA said there was a P180.98-million unreconciled difference between the balance in the LGUs books and that of the bank accounts for the years 2005 to 2007 for the general fund alone.
The ARMM has the lowest literacy rate in the country, with a functional literacy rate of only 62.9 percent as of 2003. The region with the second lowest literacy rate is the Zamboanga Peninsula with a functional literacy rate of 74.8 percent.
Apart from the problems with the ARMM LGUs cash in bank, the CoA also noted that P25.18 million worth of travel expenses were not liquidated in 2008 and that the P54.13 million valuation for property, plant and equipment “net of depreciation cannot be ascertained when the management failed to reconcile with the Physical Inventory Report and to conduct physical inventory.
The 2008 CoA report on ARMM, however, said the regional government had several impact projects that were spread out in the entire region in 2008: P176.68 million of which represent so-called regional impact projects such as farm to market roads, a multi purpose building, a municipal building, a gymnasium, a public market and a two-storey school building; P205.33 million worth of provincial impact projects such as road widening and drainage, a capitol building, farm to market roads, a slaughter house, a culvert drainage system, a gym a school among others; P238.05 million of district impact projects such as a waiting shed, a basketball court, a gym, a public market, a cultural center, a town plaza and roads among others. (Eileen Mencias - Manila Standard Today)
Link:http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/february/13/nation2.isx&d=2010/february/13
Gunmen free last hostage in Sulu province
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 13, 2010) – Gunmen released the remaining Filipino construction worker seized in Sulu province in the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday.
Officials said Raja Halud was freed in the town of Maimbung late Friday. “Halud is freed and reunited with his family,” said Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.
Cacho did not give details of the victim’s release, but gunmen freed Halud two days after they had released unharmed Jalal Ali. Both men were working for a US-funded road project in the town when gunmen seized them.
Marine Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, commander of military forces, tagged extortionists as behind the kidnappings. “We have reports that some villagers in the area extorting money from those working on the road project were behind the kidnappings,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
Friday, February 12, 2010
Malaysia rules out Sayyaf as behind abductions of 2 citizens in Sabah, says labor dispute likely motive
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 12, 2010) – Kuala Lumpur has ruled out the involvement of a Filipino terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the abductions of two Malaysian men at a seaweed farm in the eastern state of Sabah.
Chung Chen Yui and Chung Lai Wong were seized on February 8 by five masked gunmen from the island of Sebangkat, off the town of Semporma. The two are manager and supervisor of a seaweed farm.
Malaysia’s Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the abductions of the duo were not linked to the terrorist group, but was connected to a business dispute among workers at the seaweed farm.
A report Friday by Malaysia’s The Star newspaper said the minister also refuted foreign news reports linking the Abu Sayyaf to the abductions. “This is not true at all. It has nothing to do with terrorists,” he told reporters after a meeting with Hua Zong, of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia, in Putrajaya on Thursday.
Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid also said the abductions were not an act of terrorism, but more of a personal dispute.
“It is purely a business problem between employer and employees. It has nothing to do with terrorism or the travel advisory by United States. It is an individual problem,” he said.
The Star also reported that in Kota Kinabalu, the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Region Two Commander for Sabah and Sarawak, First Admiral Anuwi Hassan, also dismissed the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf in the latest abductions.
“This alleged abduction is believed to be an inside job. We need to remind the public and tourists that our country is safe,” he said.
The Abu Sayyaf previously kidnapped 21 mostly European and Asian holiday-makers in Sabah and brought them to the southern Philippine province of Sulu where they had been ransomed off to Libyan negotiators. The hostages include three Germans, two French, two South Africans, and two Finns, one Lebanese, nine Malaysians and a Filipino working at the Sipadan Island Resort.
The abductions came days after the United States warned their citizens from traveling to Sabah because of threats of kidnappings.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan earlier ordered police and military to verify reports the abducted Malaysians were brought to his province.
Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, commander of military forces in Sulu, said they had alerted soldiers in the province about the reported kidnapping of two Malaysians in Sabah.
“We are trying to verify whether the kidnapped Malaysians were brought to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu, so far there have been no confirmation yet that the hostages are in Sulu,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
Police kill follower of detained mayor linked to massacre at shootout inside Philippine mall
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 12, 2010) – A follower of the Ampatuan clan was killed Friday night in a shootout with a police escort of rival clan member at a shopping mall in Davao City in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the shooting occurred at around 7:25 p.m. at the 4th Floor of the Gaisano South Mall in downtown Davao after the policeman exchanged gunfire with Tamano Kamindan Mamalapat, a former government militia working for the Ampatuan clan.
Army Major Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the police are still investigating the shooting. “The incident is being investigated by the police,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Cabangbang said the policeman who killed Mamalapat is an escort of Buluan town vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and sisters were among 57 people, including at least 31 journalists brutally killed in November 23 last year by gunmen allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao province.
The Ampatuan and Mangudadatu clans are bitter political foe.
Cabangbang did not give details about the shooting. But ABS television reported that Mamalapat tried to attack Mangudadatu who was shopping with his three children. The politician was unhurt.
Ampatuan Jr. and his father Andal Ampatuan Sr. and brothers and other clan members were also arrested and are facing multiple murder charges in connection with the killings. The Ampatuans all denied involvement in the gruesome murders.
The journalists were traveling with Mangudadatu’s wife on a political caravan when the gunmen seized them in Shariff Aguak town and herded them to the next town called Ampatuan where they were hacked with machetes and shot in the face and buried in shallow graves.(Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
'Neither here nor there' man jailed
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - A man who declared himself as a subject of the "Sultanate of Sulu" was jailed a year and ordered to be given three strokes of the rotan by the Session Court, Wednesday, for illegal entry.
Titing bin Imam, 29, from Kg Tambalang, was penalised under Section 6(1)(C) of the Immigration Act for failure to procure identification papers.
What he had was a small piece of laminated paper which stated that he is a "citizen of the Sultanate of Sulu".
Titing told the court he was neither a citizen of Malaysia nor Philippines but from a country called "Tausuk". He said the document he possessed served as his birth certificate, his identification card and passport.
"I am a citizen of Sulu. I am not Filipino nor Moro. My language is Sulu and my lord is the Sultan of Sulu."
Upon hearing his conviction from the High Court Deputy Registrar Zaini Fashir, Titing exclaimed: "Why my lord? I am innocent. I have produced all that I had. My nationality is that of Tausuk."
Also arrested together with him on Nov 22, 2008, were four others.
Their offence falls under Section 6 (3) of the Immigration Act and they are allowed to appeal.
Prosecuting officers Rosli Sulaiman and Jaesman Gipin of the Immigration department stated that this was the first such case they had encountered. A similar fate awaits those who belong to a nation that does not exist. (Daily Express)
Link: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=70728
Mutya ng Kidapawan City 2010
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Eddie Lyn Espinosa wins Mutya ng Kidapawan 2010 beauty pageant, one of the most awaited event in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. (Geo Solmerano - Mindanao Examiner Photo)Kidnappers free Sulu hostage
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 11, 2010) – Kidnappers have freed one of two Filipino construction workers in the southern province of Sulu where security forces are battling Abu Sayyaf militants., officials said Thursday.
Gunmen seized two Muslim men who are both working on a US-funded road project in the town of Maimbung, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group blamed for previous kidnappings-for-ransom in the province.
Marine Lieutenant Benjamin Dolorfino, a regional military chief, said one hostage was freed in Sulu on Wednesday. “One of the two victims was released on Wednesday. There is an ongoing operation to rescue the remaining captive,” he said without elaborating.
Gunmen flagged down a dump truck and seized the two local workers.
They also torched the truck before escaping with their hostages. The remaining hostage was identified as Raja Haluid.
Philippine authorities were also trying to verify reports that two Malaysians abducted from a seaweed farm in Sabah had been taken either to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu provinces.
Malaysian authorities said that Chen Yui Chung, 48, and Lai Wong Chung, 46, were seized by five masked gunmen on Monday from the island of Sebangkat, off the town of Semporma, and were believed spirited to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf militants are actively operating.
The Abu Sayyaf previously kidnapped 21 mostly European and Asian holiday-makers in Sabah and brought them to Sulu where they had been ransomed off to Libyan negotiators. The hostages include three Germans, two French, two South Africans, and two Finns, one Lebanese, nine Malaysians and a Filipino working at the Sipadan Island Resort.
The latest victims were said to be a manager and his supervisor from a seaweed farm. The abductions came days after the United States warned their citizens from traveling to Sabah because of threats of kidnappings.
No group claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, although suspicion fell heavily to Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya. (Mindanao Examiner)
Samal women finish literacy program in Pagadian City
Some of Samal women who finished a five-month literacy course by the The nongovernmental organizations Ummah Fi Salam and the Socio-Pastoral Institute in Pagadian City in the southern Philippines. Sister Agnes Suarin and Sultan Maguid Maruhom headed the training. Just recently, the two organizations finished a five-month basic writing and reading to 23 Samal women in the village of Santiago in Pagadian City. The Adult Literacy Class for Women is part of the groups’ women empowerment strategy as a key to community development.
The training was headed by Sister Agnes Suarin, who is active in literacy programs in many areas in Mindanao.
The participants also shared their experiences during the seminar whose theme was “Knowledge: A key to empowering oneself, as a woman, as a person.”
“I am so happy, now I know how to read and write…finally. Thank you very much,” said Salma Asan to the organizers of the seminar.
Sister Suarin said they will continue the literacy program with the help of community volunteers who also shared the same advocacy.
“I also wanted to thank all of you. We also learned a lot from you and we will continue this program with the help of everybody,” she said.
UFS Executive Director Sultan Maguid Maruhom also praised the participant and urged them to continue reading.
“Education is a continuing process. We thanked all those who attended the training and for accepting the challenge of learning the basics of writing and reading and the children, despite their young age and status in life, they showed great interest. With this new knowledge, they could become more productive and can help their family someday,” the sultan said. (Becky de Asis and Leah Agonoy)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Good and the Bad!
Two Philippine military generals get Ateneo special awards for peace
Ateneo de Zamboanga University President Fr. Antonio Moreno speaks to participants during a peace forum attended by Lieutenant Generals Raymundo Ferrer and Benjamin Dolorfino in Zamboanga City on Wednesday, February 10, 2010. The two generals are recipients of the Ateneo special awards. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)The Ateneo Peace and Culture Institute cited various accomplishments of Lieutenant Generals Raymundo Ferrer, of the Army; and Benjamin Dolorfino, of the Marines, that largely contributed to peace in the troubled region of Mindanao.
Ferrer, who was a former battalion officer in Basilan province, is the current commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command, who was appointed administrator of martial law in Maguindanao province last year following the brutal killings of 57 people, including at least 31 journalists, by Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the scion of a powerful political clan in Mindanao.
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University cited Ferrer’s stint in Basilan several years ago and said his tour of duty in the province widened his perspective on the complexities of the Mindanao conflicts.
“His dialogues in the island provided him with a new outlook on how to better address these conflicts. This awareness, strengthened by his realizations in the Mindanao Peace Institute and Center for Bridging Leadership, led him to initiate programs to prepare his command to do peace-building work.”
“He played a critical role in the implementation of the GRP-MILF ceasefire agreement and was instrumental in the restoration and preservation of law and order in the aftermath of the tragedy in Maguindanao,” the Ateneo de Zamboanga University said.
GRP-MILF is the acronym for the Government of the Republic of the Philippines-Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for a separate rule in Mindanao and is currently negotiating peace with Manila.
Ferrer is based in Davao City and commands half of Mindanao region. “I cannot find any word to express my gratitude to Ateneo University. We will continue our peace advocacy and promote peace throughout Mindanao,” he said.
While Dolorfino, a former Marine commandant, is the chief of the Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City and his meritorious military career is tempered by compassion and is guided by the belief that conflicts can be managed through non-violent measures, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University said.
“He has worked with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process as Chairman of the Joint Action Group in the peace process with the MILF and he was also a facilitator in the peace initiatives with the MNLF .”
“Engaging multi-culturally diverse stakeholders using the Bridging Leadership framework, he believes that the root causes of the conflict must be collectively understood, owned, then resolved through peaceful means,” it said.
MNLF stands for the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group which signed a peace agreement with the Filipino government in 2006.
Dolorfino, for his part, also thanked the Ateneo de Zamboanga University and vowed to continue peace-building efforts in the restive region. “We are all for peace. This is a universal advocacy,” he said.
The Ateneo Peace and Culture Institute envisions a united community of tri-people that understand and appreciate diversity and that collaborate for genuine peace and human development.
It also aims to promote the culture of peace amidst the multicultural and multi-religious backdrop of the academe and of society.
The APCI is actively engaged in peace-building through its programs on education, advocacy, and research that seek to transform values, attitudes, and behavior toward the achievement of a culture of peace.
Earlier on Wednesday, both Ferrer and Dolorfino attended a forum at the Ateneo de Zamboanga which was participated by faculty members headed by Father Antonio Moreno, the university president; and students. (Jung Francisco and Bryan Cachon contributed to this report)
Philippine authorities search for 4 kidnapped Malaysians, Filipinos in troubled South
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 10, 2010) – Philippine authorities on Wednesday were verifying reports that two Malaysians abducted from a seaweed farm in Sabah had been taken either to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu provinces, officials said.
Gunmen also kidnapped two Filipino construction workers of a US-funded road project in Sulu on Monday.
Officials said security forces have been alerted about the reports and that soldiers were told to stay on alert. “We are still verifying that reports. We have alerted our troops in the southern Philippines,” said First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.
Malaysian authorities said that Chen Yui Chung, 48, and Lai Wong Chung, 46, were seized by five masked gunmen on Monday from the island of Sebangkat, off the town of Semporma, and were believed spirited to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf militants are actively operating.
The Abu Sayyaf previously kidnapped 21 mostly European and Asian holiday-makers in Sabah and brought them to Sulu where they had been ransomed off to Libyan negotiators. The hostages include three Germans, two French, two South Africans, and two Finns, one Lebanese, nine Malaysians and a Filipino working at the Sipadan Island Resort.
The latest victims were said to be a manager and his supervisor from a seaweed farm.
The abductions came days after the United States warned their citizens from traveling to Sabah because of threats of kidnappings.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan has ordered police and military to intensify their search for the two Filipino victims and to verify the reported abduction of the two Malaysians.
“Police and military are already working on these reports,” he said.
Gunmen flagged down a dump truck and seized the two local workers in the town of Maimbung, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.
They also torched the truck before escaping with their hostages; one of them was identified as Raja Haluid, according to the military spokeswoman. “There is an operation going on. We are searching for the victims,” Cacho said.
Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, commander of military forces in Sulu, said troops were tracking down the kidnappers of the construction workers. He said they also alerted soldiers in the province about the reported kidnapping of two Malaysians in Sabah.
“We are trying to verify whether the kidnapped Malaysians were brought to Tawi-Tawi or Sulu, so far there have been no confirmation yet that the hostages are in Sulu,” he said.
He said the victims were working on a road project of the US military in Maimbung town. The project, Guerrero said, is part of Washington's humanitarian efforts in Sulu under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.
No group claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, although suspicion fell heavily to Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya. (Mindanao Examiner)
Mindanao Examiner TV Week in Review January 31-February 6, 2010