Marines take over war on Sayyaf, JI Julie Alipala Ed General Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 23, 2008
JOLO, SULU – The Marines were called in to finish the job against the Abu Sayyaf and its allies from the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah despite suffering several debacles in the past against Moro gunmen.
Capt. Walid Kee, civil-military officer of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade on Thursday announced that the Marines were taking over the duties of soldiers from the 35th Infantry Battalion.
As soon as the announcement was made, members of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6, led by Col. Jessie Bugayong, arrived in Basilan aboard the Navy ship LST 501.
“We all will be transferred to Lanao del Sur and in Central Mindanao,” Kee said.
The Marines immediately took over the camp of the 35th IB in Bud Dahu.
Col. Antonio Mark Supnet, head of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade, said he was hoping that the Marines would also continue the peace and development projects started by the Army.
Heavy casualties
Supnet said the war on terror could not be won by force alone. “It is more about the relationship (with the people),” he said.
The Marines have suffered some of the heaviest casualties in the AFP in its war on guerrillas and terrorism.
In 2006, at least six Marines were killed when they clashed with Abu Sayyaf bandits in Indanan town.
Last year, five Marines died in Camp Jabal Uhud also in Sulu.
On July 10, 2007 14 Marines were killed by Abu Sayyaf bandits in Albarka, Basilan. Ten of them were beheaded.
A month later, 15 Marines, including five officers, were killed in a clash with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the towns of Ungkaya Pukan and Tipo-Tipo Central also in Basilan.
Good projects
Supnet listed several projects implemented by his unit during the past eight years, which, he said, helped in the military’s campaign against violence.
Among these, he said, were the Balik Barangay program for war evacuees and the Salaam projects that involved the construction of school buildings, mosques, barangay roads and multipurpose centers.
He said the Army in Sulu had taken pride in these accomplishments more than its other achievements.
“It is not in the number of firearms that we have recovered, it is not in the number of the Abu Sayyaf that we have neutralized, but more of the help that we extended to our fellow Filipinos,” Supnet said.
