MANILA – Suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group beheaded a public school principal whom they abducted less than a month ago on the island province of Sulu in war-torn Mindanao, a spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported on Monday.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, the AFP spokesman, identified the victim as Gabriel Canizares, the principal of the Kanague Elementary School in Patikul, Sulu.
Brawner said the severed head of Canizares, contained in a bag, was dumped near a gasoline station in the capital town of Jolo, Sulu shortly after 5 am Monday.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led government officials and concerned sectors in condemning the killing as “heinous†and “inhuman†as she ordered security forces to launch yet another punitive action against the Abu Sayyaf militants.
Through her deputy Malacanang spokesman, Lorelei Fajardo, the President said: “We shall make them pay for the enormity of the savagery†committed against Canizares.
The President also expressed her condolences to the Canizares family as she assured them of all government help in their hour of bereavement.
Secretary Jesli Lapus of the Department of Education joined President Arroyo in her condemnation, lamenting that the death of Canizares was a great loss because he was actively involved in the training of public school teachers, especially those assigned to remote areas in Sulu.
Lapus likewise admitted that his department is practically helpless in ensuring the security for its teachers assigned to “danger zones†in Mindanao.
In a live interview aired over the Manila-based radio station DzMM on Monday, Mayor Hussin Amin of Jolo disclosed the the Abu Sayyaf had demanded a ransom equivalent to $42,000 for the release of Canizares.
The ransom, Amin said, was later reduced to about $10,000 but added the family admitted they could not afford to pay the amount even if they wanted to.
About 12 suspected Abu Sayyaf militants abducted Canizares while aboard a passenger jeepney along with his fellow teachers in Patikul on their way home to Jolo on October 18.
Meanwhile, the military said they have yet to establish the motive for the beheading of Canizares. One angle being pursued by investigators, it said, is the arrival of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for talks with President Arroyo and other government officials.
One of the major topics in the agenda, Malacanang said, is security, especially in the US-led global war on terrorism. The US considers the Abu Sayyaf militants as terrorists who have links with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah group which, in turn, has ties with the global terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.
Another possible motive, the military added, is that the killing of Canizares is connected with the arrest of a ranking official of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in connection with the beheading of 14 Philippine Marines on Basilan Island two years ago.
The suspect, identified as AsraniAddan Salah, was arrested by the police while he was about to board a plane at the Zamboanga International Airport bound for Manila Saturday afternoon .
From Manila, Salah was to take another plane for Saudi Arabia for his annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Police said they nabbed Salah based on several arrest warrants issued by the courts against him and other MILF members allegedly involved in the beheading of 14 Marine officers and men during an ambush on Basilan Island on July 10, 2007.
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