Palace rejects amnesty for Abu Sayyaf
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/16/2009 2:21 PM
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MANILA - Malacañang has rejected a proposal from Senator Richard Gordon to grant amnesty to members of the Abu Sayyaf in the interest of peace, deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez said Thursday.
In a dzMM report, Golez said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced the policy decision, which was arrived at after a consultation meeting with members of the Cabinet's security cluster.
Golez said the government cannot grant amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf because they are terrorists and are not pursuing any ideology. He also cited the various common and serious crimes committed by the group including rape, bombing, arson, kidnapping and beheading of kidnap victims and soldiers.
At a press conference on Thursday, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the international community would resent the granting of amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf.
"I don't think that after they (Abu Sayyaf) have kidnapped three Red Cross workers, two of whom are foreigners, the international community would look very kindly on granting amnesty," Puno said.
Puno added: "After all the hardships and the deaths, forget-forget na lang? Hindi naman siguro puwedeng ganun."
On Wednesday, a military spokesman said an amnesty for the terrorist group would not be taken well by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), although soldiers would bow to civilian orders.
Palace advisers had also expressed opposition to the grant of amnesty.
No negotiation with terrorists
Presidential peace adviser Avelino Razon Jr. said the government's policy not to negotiate with terrorists stands in the way of proposals to offer amnesty to members of the Abu Sayyaf terror group.
Razon told ANC on Wednesday that the main consideration before the government takes up Gordon's amnesty proposal is its "no negotiation" policy with terrorists.
"We have a policy in government that we are not supposed to negotiate with any terrorist group. The Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for its kidnappings, killings, beheadings and even arson, is not fighting for any ideology. This is a factor we have to consider," he said.
If the government offers amnesty to bandits, Razon said other "notorious" kidnapping groups, particularly those based in Mindanao, "might also decide to avail of amnesty."
AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said on Wednesday the first ones who might feel slighted and angry if amnesty is offered to the Abu Sayyaf are soldiers who were directly involved in the operations to recover Red Cross workers Eugenio Vagni, Andreas Notter and Mary Jean Lacaba in Sulu province.
The Marines-led Joint Task Force Comet started pursuing the kidnappers right after the Red Cross volunteers were kidnapped in Sulu last January 15.
Brawner, however, said soldiers "have no choice" but to respect Malacañang if it decides to offer amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf. "If our chain of command says that we will grant amnesty, then we will follow, " he said.
In 2007, suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits and separatist rebels beheaded killed 14 Marines in an ambush in Basilan. The bandits dragged 10 of the bodies and beheaded them.
The slain Marines were searching villages in Basilan for the then-kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.
Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on Mindanao, in a statement on Wednesday also said he will also not recommend offering the bandit group amnesty.
"Amnesty for ASG? No way! They have committed the worst inhuman and barbaric crimes. They must be made to pay for those atrocities. We will be putting a premium to terrorism if this will be done,” said Dureza who was in Indonesia meeting with his counterpart in the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA). With reports from Ruby Tayag, radio dzMM and ANC
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