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Buan: ex-NPA captive now Abu’s nemesis |
By JONATHAN MAYUGA TODAY Reporter Sunday, April 11, 2004 11:40 PM |
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“They are not invincible after all.” Thus did Lt. Col. Noel Buan, commander of the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion who led the Ranger team that killed Hamsiraji Sali and five other Abu Sayyaf members during a gun battle in Isabela, Basilan, on Maundy Thursday, characterize the bandits. The encounter and killing of the notorious Sali -- a feat praised by the President on Saturday -- has brought Buan back to the limelight in two years. People remember him as the handsome, mild-mannered Army major kidnapped in 1999 and held for 21 months by communist rebels in Mindoro. He was released after lengthy negotiations with the NPA, and has since been assigned to Basilan. With the neutralization of Sali, the second of the five Abu Sayyaf bandits listed by the U.S. government as among the most wanted local terrorists, Buan is sure to receive, at the very least the Gold Cross, the third highest military award for valor in action. Sources said that his feat could make him a candidate for a Medal of Valor, the highest military award for bravery.Buan led a team of soldiers from the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment and the 103rd Infantry Brigade of the Army that cornered and killed Sali, his brother Sahir, and four others in what he described as close-quarters battle with heavily armed bandits. “We were very close,” Buan told Today in an exclusive interview inside his room at the Fort Bonifacio General Hospital where he is now recuperating from his wound. His wife Cielo, whose angelic face was often in newspaper photographs while she is relentlessly between the government and the rebel sides to negotiate for her husband’s release from the NPAs a few years ago, was at the hospital on Easter to attend to the injured officer. Buan, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1984, had been held captive from July 1999 to April 2001 in a New People’s Army lair in Quezon. He was promoted recently from major to lieutenant colonel before his assignment in Isabela City, Basilan, where he finally got the chance to see Sali face-to-face. “We needed to get closer to them [bandits] to make sure that our bullets were hitting them, because one or two bullets wouldn’t put them down,” he recalled, as the Abu Sayyaf bandits exchanged gunfire with his team for about one and a half hour. Buan, who suffered a bullet wound in his right palm during the first 30-minute firefight, said each of the fatalities took five to six hits before falling. “After the fierce gunfight, habulan na,” he said. The encounter took place near the Kumalara River in barangay Kamirin in Lantawan town, Basilan, where most pocket-sized encounters take place. Three teams from Buan’s battalion started the hunt against Sali as a result of what Buan himself humbly said was a result of good intelligence work. “We worked hard on this one, that’s for sure. And the government scored a big one in this one,” he said. After the gunfight, Buan’s men continued to pursue the fleeing bandits who were not able to cross the river, as a team of Scout Rangers were deployed on the other side. Buan and three of his men were shot in the process. “After I was shot, I rolled to avoid being hit again. Fortunately, I was able to take cover at a safe distance,” he said. He said he is raring to go back in action to give his men encouragement, and comfort them for the loss of their fellow soldiers, Cpl. Ernesto Estember and SSgt. Isidro Dandin, 45. “Ganoon talaga ang sundalo, [That’s the life of a soldier],” he said of his two men who died. Buan admitted that some ASG members were tough, perhaps because of the food they eat such as cassava, commonly known as balinghoy or kamoteng kahoy. They are stronger because of the food they eat, he said, but that doesn’t make them invincible.“Kailangan malapitan na kasi matitigas talaga sila dahil gumagana pa iyong anting anting nila. Hindi kasi basta basta tumutumba. Pero tinatablan din naman sila,” [It should be a close encounter because their amulets seemed to be working. They don’t fall easily],” he joked. He said unlike those who eat ordinary staples like rice, those who eat corn and cassava are stronger and durable. “Maybe that explains why they seemed to have amulets,” he said. Estember and Dandin both died at a hospital in Isabela town after the encounter. SSgt. Wahab Sahid was wounded in the arm and is now confined at the Fort Bonifacio General Hospital with Buan. The elder Sali has a P5-million price on his head. His brother Sahir has a P500,000 reward, while the rest -- Daniel Abdul Salam, Sahid Amad, Abdul Sabor Amping, and Baser Aslama -- all had a bounty of P150,000 each on their heads. “I was saddened that I lost two of my men in that encounter. But definitely, the government won in this battle because we literally wiped out one group in Basilan,” he said. Buan said it took two years of intelligence work on his part to finally nail Sali’s gang. Sali, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader has been under surveillance by Buan since 2002. Buan said three of his assets had been closely working and were “in close contact” with Sali before they finally got the chance to pin the group down. Buan said he was not yet the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion commander when he started working on Sali. He assumed the post of commander only in December last year. “This is a team effort on the part of the Army,” Buan said. Lt. Col. Buenventura Pascual, Public Information Office chief of the Army, said that even with the escape of the 36 bandits from a detention center in Isabela City, on Saturday, the Abu Sayyaf cannot make up for the loss of Sali. “Those who escaped were mere subcommanders and followers. All of them together would not account for the loss they suffered with the neutralization of Sali’s gang,” Pascual said. Pascual said the Armed Forces expects a series of attacks from the ASG bandits based in Basilan, but is confident that they could not do much harm, what with the local leadership still in disarray.Sali’s death, according to him, only shows that the ASG also has its weaknesses. “We managed to get A-1 information about them, our intelligence work got them, and our men were able to neutralize Sali’s group because of that. It means they are not invincible, after all,” Pascual said. Please send your comments or feedback to newsfeedback@abs-cbn.com |