MANILA (CWNews.com/Fides) - A Philippines Muslim rebel
group that kidnapped more than 70 Catholic students,
teachers, and a priest last month have issued demands,
including the removal of Catholic influences in the region,
alarming missionaries in the southern Philippines.
"Remove all crucifixes, have Islamic instruction in
schools, release terrorists and kidnappers: these
conditions laid down by rebels in Basilan wound to the core
our hearts as missionaries," said a missionary who asked to
remain anonymous for his protection. The Abu Sayyaf rebel
group still holds a group of 29 hostages, including Claret
missionary Father Rohel Gallardo. The rebels also asked to
speak with the Italian ambassador Graziella Simboletti
because "Christianity came from Europe."
After receiving two truckloads of rice and other food on
April 14 the rebels released two ten-year-old children who
had been taken ill. The children were handed over to Father
Nestor Banga, Catholic representative in negotiations.
The rebels listed their requests in a letter to President
Estrada signed by their leader Khaddafy Janjanlani. They
demanded the release of terrorists now being held in the US
including Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of a bomb blast at the
World Trade Center in New York; Abu Haider, one of
Janjalani's instructors, detained in California; and
Egyptian sheik Abdurrahaman Omar, detained in New York.
They also demanded the release of two members of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, detained in the Philippines; the
removal of all crucifixes in the area of the cities of
Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi Tawi; and a presidential order to
the Education Department to allow Islamic instruction for
Muslim school pupils.
"The destiny of the Catholic priest, the teachers and
students is in your hands, as head of state and father of
the people", the rebels' letter to Estrada continued. "We
expect a reply. The release of the hostages depends on the
government's decisions."
The Philippine government has said it will not give in.
Alexander Aguirre, a presidential councilor for national
security warned the rebels that "the government's patience
is not unlimited."
In the meantime, the local Catholic community has organized
peace marches and prayers for the victims. On April 13 in
Quezon City, Claret missionaries organized a peaceful
procession and interreligious prayer meeting, with
Christians and Muslims. Among those taking part, Father
Bernardo Blanco, a Claret missionary kidnapped in 1994 and
held for 49 days by the same Abu Sayyaf group, told about
his experience in the rebels' hands.
The Abu Sayyaf group is a faction of the separatist Moro
Islamic Liberation Front with 15,000 fighters which rejects
an agreement reached between the other rebel group Moro
National Liberation Front and the government to set up the
Autonomous Muslim Region of Mindanao.