By Benjamin Pulta | Philippine News Agency
A Taguig court has convicted 17 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in connection with the kidnapping of 21 individuals in Malaysia in 2000, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday.
In a 157-page decision dated Oct. 16, Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 153 Judge Mariam Bien found the accused guilty of 21 counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom and sentenced each of them to suffer reclusion perpetua (up to 40 years imprisonment) for each count.
In April 2000, members of the notorious ASG abducted at gunpoint 21 individuals of different nationalities from a resort in Sipadan Island.
Of the 21, 10 were foreign tourists visiting the remote diving resort, consisting of three Germans, two Finnish, two South Africans, one Lebanese, and two French, while the 11 others, including two Filipinos, were resort workers.
The victims were taken by boat to Talipao, Sulu and held captive in the hinterlands of Jolo while ASG extorted ransom money from the hostages’ families and from the government.
The hostages were released over several months after ransom money was paid to the kidnappers.
Most of the top ASG leaders, including Galib Andang a.k.a. “Commander Robot’ and Nadjmi Sabdulla a.k.a. “Commander Global,” and several other members, were taken into custody and prosecuted shortly after the incident.
However, they perished during an attempted jailbreak in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City in 2005.
Among those 17 convicted are high-profile individuals who are listed in the United Nations Security Council’s Sanctions List, namely Hilarion Roel Santos III, a.k.a. Ahmed Islam Santos, and Redendo Dellosa.
Santos is the founder and leader of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), while Dellosa is another RSM leader.
The UN Security Council tagged them both in 2008 for their association with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, or the Taliban, and for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of and recruiting for the Abu Sayyaf Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and the Rajah Solaiman Movement.”
The accused, however, had to be charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom since the incident happened in 2000, when the country did not yet have a law on terrorism.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the conviction “is a reflection of the unwavering efforts of the DOJ in upholding the rule of law without fear or falter.”
He commended Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Hazel Decena-Valdez for her perseverance and hard work, which led to the conviction of the notorious terrorists.
Remulla also thanked the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine Army (AFP-PA), and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), as well as the government of the United States of America, for the cooperation and support given to the DOJ in the years leading to the verdict.