PHILIPPINES - HOSTAGES COWERING IN BUSH Jul 2000 DUR 19’00” HOSTAGES
COWERING IN BUSH GERMAN
OVER GUNSHOTS AERIALS
OF GUERILLA CAMP ABU
SAYYAF GUNMEN – BALACLAVAS AND GUNS SCARIEST LOOKING GUMMEN IN
BALACLAVAS CONT’D SYNCH
PHILIPPINES COVT CHIEF NEGOTIATOR Roberto
Aventajadro OLD SICK
WOMAN SIPS WATER CRIES HOSTAGES DUCKING
SHOTS FRENCH
GUY GIVES THE FINGER – ANGRY LOOKING AVENTAJADRO
IN PRESSER WITH MALAYSIAN SYNCH
FROM PRESSER AVENTAJADRO
WITH COMMANDER ROBOT ROBOT
UPSOT INTO MIKE TROOPS IN
BASKET CHURCH
FUNERAL ESTRADA
IN FATIGUES MEETS HONOUR GUARD – HANDS OUT GONGS TO TROOPS ESTRADA
IN FATIGUES FIGHITNG
– WITH UPSOTS MILF RELIGIOUS
TRAINING SCHOOL – UNIFORMED GUERILLAS SELAMAT
HASHIM, MILF SUPREME LEADER MILF
MILITARY TRAINING, BIG GUN YOUNG BOY
IN CAMP WOMEN
RELIES MUM
COOKING FISH IN MUDDY CAMP POOR CAMP
CONDITIONS MUSLIM
YOUNG FACES – YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN – DEFIANT LOOKS BACK TO
SAUDI AND RELIES MILF CAMP
LIFE – FACES – AFTERNOON EXOTIC
MILF CAMP – GUERILLA MIXED IN WITH CIVILIANS ARMED
GUERILLAS AROUND AND ENTERING MOSQUE SYNCH
AL-HAJ MURAD, MILF MILITARY CHIEF AL-HAJ
MURAD IN MOSQUE PRAYING THOUGHT-TRACK
OVER FACES FIRST, THEN SYNCH AL-HAJ DR. CAROL
OVER RUINED VILLAGE DR. CAROL
AND EVAN LOOKING AT VIDEO – CUT IN WITH VISION FROM VIDEO GENERAL
ANGELO REYES, PHILIPPINES ARMY GENERAL
PINNING GONGS ON TROOPS BEST OF
FIGHITNG – GUNSHOTS ETC. HOUSE TO HOUSE FATHER
ELISEO MERCADO, CATHOLIC PRIEST TRACK
FATHER MERCADO FIRST OVER FIGHTING VISION – THEN SYNCH HIM MERCADO
IN CHURCH SERVICE |
UPSOT
HOSTAGES They
came from the other side of the world for the holiday of a lifetime. 12
hapless Europeans… they left home for a scuba diving adventure in the exotic
Sulu Sea, framed between Malaysian Sabah and the Philippines. Instead
now, they’re simply trying to survive in squalid conditions at the mercy of the
kidnappers. SYNCH GERMAN: WERNER WALLERT WE ARE AGAIN BEING ATTACKED RIGHT NOW BY THE MILITARY,
BY THE PHILIPPINE MILITARY, AND THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THAT WE ARE UNDER
ATTACK – YOU CAN HEAR THE FIRE THE SHOOTING JUST WITHIN A SHORT RANGE, I
DON’T KNOW HOW FAR AWAY IT IS. AND WE APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE
ENTIRE WORLD TO MAKE THE PHILIPPINE ARMY AND GOVERNMENT STOP THIS RIGHT NOW. They’re
outsiders swept into the edges of a marathon war… it’s been waged for almost
four hundred years – but these hostages, like so many in the outside world,
probably knew nothing about it… Islam’s fight for a place in Asia’s Catholic
heartland. MAP: PHILIPPINES MINDANAO JOLO (SLOW
OMINOUS MUSLIM MUSIC OUT
OF MAP INTO GUNMAN) They
call themselves Abu Sayyaf, Bearer of the Sword. A band of Muslim extremists
with one hand on the Koran and the other brandishing a gun. They
claim to be part of the push for a Muslim homeland here on the island of
Mindanao – but in reality they’re the opportunistic fringe of that movement. (BRIEF UPSOT GUNMEN) They’re
kidnapers – ransom seekers. When
they snatched the diving party and hotel workers from their Malaysian resort
island of Sipadan and brought them here to the jungles of Jolo in the
Philippines, it sparked world attention – and an assumption that this was an
act of political terrorism. SYNCH AVENTAJADRO: THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THEY MIGHT HURT THE
HOSTAGES - IN CASE THERE IS A BREAKDOWN IN OUR NEGOTIATION - IT’S A
POSSIBILITY, I THINK EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE LIVES OF THE HOSTAGES ARE
EXPOSED TO EXTREME DANGER. They’ve
now been here three months, and the government chief negotiator knows he
can’t rush it or threaten force. Even the hostages must’ve thought they were
pawns in a desperate power play. SYNCH HOSTAGE: WE REALLY ARE DEPRESSED NOT KNOWING DOES IT MEAN ONE
OR TWO DAYS, OR WEEKS, OR MONTHS… LET’S HOPE NEGOTIATIONS GO ON QUICKLY AND THEY WILL
MEET ALL THE DEMANDS AND THAT THEY WILL GET US OUT. Mistreated
and abused languishing in squalid conditions, their captors ignored urgent
pleas for the medical evacuation of ailing 57-year-old German, Renate
Wallert. SYNCH GERMAN RENATE WALLERT MENTAL PROBLEMS DEFINITELY, AND PHYSICAL PROBLEMS
TOO. BUT TWENTY OF US I THINK CAN COPE WITH THE SITUATION, MY WIFE CANNOT. But
while the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers beat the drum for an Islamic Homeland, their
true motivation is money –20 million dollars in fact – and they’ve waited
three months for the government to deliver. SYNCH: WE HAVE BEEN REALLY DISAPPOINTED AT THE SPEED OF THE
NEGOTIATIONS. WE GOT THE IMPRESSION THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT ACTUALLY MORE
ENJOYED IN HAVING THE PRESS HERE AND HAVING THE RATIONS SENT HERE THAN NEGOTIATING. Long
into this standoff, there have been concessions. I’D LIKE TO THANK ALLAH FOR HIS BLESS US TO RELEASE
ME AND – First,
a Malaysian national was released – then finally in very poor health, the
German woman, and more recently four more Malaysians - but it’s done little
to soften Manila’s resolve not yield to the financial demands of the tough
Abu Sayyaf militants and their leader – the menacingly named Commander Robot. UPSOT COMMANDER ROBOT IN TV MIKE – THEY – THE NEGOTIATORS – ARE THE ONES THAT ARE NOT
KEEPING TO WHAT THEY TALK ABOUT. WE WILL FIGHT AND FIGHT TO THE DEATH, THEY
WILL SEE THE JIHAD WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. ALLAH AKBAR…runs off. The
tourist snatch and grab is just the latest in a long line of kidnapping
incidents. Previously, in the hands of these unpredictable and violent men,
captured government troops have been tortured to death and then mutilated. (UPSOT CHURCH WAILING) They
even take school children and teachers for ransom – and recently beheaded a
priest to bring deadly urgency to their cash demands. UPSOT PRIEST THE MILITARY MUST BE FIRM IN THEIR DETERMINATION TO
WIPE OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL THE ABU SAYYAF. For
the Philippines Government Abu Sayyaf is no more than a pack of bandits. But
an increasingly popular President Astrada is now using the foreign hostage
taking and other Abu Sayyaf hits as a license to crackdown – indeed crush –
Mindanao’s entire Islamic Movement – and regain a few lost votes in his
deeply Catholic nation. SYNCH ESTRADA I OFFER PEACE TO THOSE WHO WANT PEACE BUT I PROMISE
DEFEAT TO THOSE WHO WANT WAR. (UPSOT
GUNFIRE) Yet
the target of Estrada’s political war is not the Abu Sayyaf. Instead, in a
war unknown to the world, the might of the Philippines army has been
unleashed on a far larger and more dangerous enemy – a deeply committed army
of Muslim freedom fighters. They’re
the 15,000 strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the MILF, todays flag
bearers in an historic conflict… Discipline and organization forged by their
part in the 400-year fight for an Islamic State in the Mindanao. SYNCH SELAMAT HASHIM IF THE PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT INSISTS OR NOT GIVING
WAY TO THE WILL OF THE BANGSAMORO PEOPLE TO BE FREE AND ENJOY
SELF-DETERMINATION, IF WE CANNOT ACCEPT THIS NOW, IN OUR TIME, THEN THERE WILL
BE CONTINUING CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE BANGSAMORO PEOPLE AND THE PHILIPPINES
GOVERNMENT FOR GENERATION AFTER GENERATION. WE ARE EXPECTING THIS. (UPSOT MILITARY TRAINING) Many
of the MILF’s trainers fought the Russians in Afghanistan or trained in Libya
– and they’ve received funding from infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden. But
their real strength lies in entrenched self-sufficiency, and deeply-rooted
support from Mindanao’s Muslims, thousands of whom left their everyday lives
once a year and came to the MILF’s camps for a month’s religious and guerilla
training… ready for call up in any future conflict. (UPSOT TRAINING) (UPSOT FROM
REFUGEE CAMP) Eighteen-year-old
Saudi Lumenta is paying the price of Estrada’s political offensive. Sheltering
in a refugee camp with his mother and relatives, they’ve been forced to flee
their home by the army’s push against the MILF. SYNCH SAUDI: I DON'T BELIEVE THE MILF IS ENGAGED IN TERRORISM OF
ALL SORTS BECAUSE WHAT IT WANTS IS PEACE AND ISLAMIC RULE – ACCORDING TO THE
KORAN IN THE MORO LAND. And
Saudi’s family is not alone. Estrada’s
political war against Muslims has forced more than half a million people from
their homes into these squalid camps. In
one area alone, 35, young and old, have died from preventable disease. It’s
these conditions that forge new fighters from quiet young men – but Saudi has
another reason. His
father is missing in action – fighting with the MILF guerillas against what
they all see as yet another offensive by Manila’s Christian army. SYNCH SAUDI IF I WOULD BE GIVEN THE CHANCE, I WOULD BE FIGHTING
ALONGSIDE THE MILF BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE DAY TO COME WHEN I WOULD BE
WEARING THE CROSS. (BIT OF MUSLIM MUSIC OVER GENTLE MILF VILLAGE) To
boost their claim for an independent future, the MILF ran their camps as
nascent Islamic states, with Sharia courts and schools. They draw a
substantial arsenal from their own weapons factories. The
Muslim Moro people have been fighting for Islamic independence since before
the Philippines was even a country. They’ve resisted some intimidating
enemies; the Spanish, the Americans, even the might of the Marcos forces at
the height of that dictator’s powers. They’ve
been unassailable but they’ve not managed to yet convert their resistance
into their prized homeland they seek. SYNCH AL-HAJ THE GOVERNMENT IN MANILA HAVE BEEN EXPLOITING THE
NATURAL RESOURCES OF OUR HOMELAND. (BRIEF UPSOT FROM PRAYERS) Dubbed
a terrorist by Manila, MILF military chief Al-Haj Murad insists he’s fighting
for the rights of a forgotten people. SYNCH AL-HAJ THE NATIVE PEOPLE HERE HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF ECONOMIC
DISPLACEMENT. THEY HAVE BEEN DRIVEN OUT OF THEIR AREAS BECAUSE OF AN
EXTENSION OF OPERATIONS OF LOGGING COMPANIES, AN EXTENSION OF OPERATIONS OF MINING
COMPANIES. IT SEEMS THE MANILA GOVERNMENT IS ONLY INTERESTED IN THE BENEFIT
THEY GET FROM OUT OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES BUT NOT THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE. But
the Mosque in which Murad once prayed, and the village in which his people
once lived, have now been destroyed. This
is the result of the government’s push to break the Muslim spirit. DR. CAROL INDISCRIMINATE BOMBARDING OF POPULATED AREAS, BOTH
FROM THE AIR AND FROM THE GROUND USING HOWITZERS, FORCIBLE EVACUATION OF
PEOPLE, THE RAZING OF HOUSES TO THE GROUND… Peace
activist Dr. Carol Araullio was commissioned by the Philippines Congress to
lead an investigation into the offensive. Her
findings are so disturbing they will now be presented to UN human rights and
minority committees. DR. CAROL THERE IS A CONSCIOUS DIRECTION TOWARDS TERRORIZING
THE CIVILIAN MASS BASE OF THE MILF, TERRORIZING THEM NOT TO SUPPORT THE MILF
- AND THEY ARE TRYING TO DRIVE HOME THE LESSON THAT IF YOU CONTINUE TO
SUPPORT THE MILF, THIS IS WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU. SYNCH GENERAL REYES WE ARE NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF TERRORIZING ANYBODY,
WE ARE JUST IN THE BUSINESS OF TRYING TO PERFORM WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. Manila’s
top general leading the charge, says the offensive is overdue – his mission,
to degrade the MILF’s military strength so they’re forced to accept the
government’s terms. SYNCH REYES WHEN YOU SPEAK OF DEGRADING STRENGTH, MORE IMPORTANT
THAN NUMBERS KILLED IS DESTROYING THE WILL TO EXIST, THE WILL TO FIGHT,
DESTROYING THEIR RESOLVE… IT’S NOT THE NUMBER MERELY BUT THE SPIRIT BEHIND
THE NUMBER, THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE - THE MOMENT YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE
SPIRIT YOU HAVE COME A LONG WAY. (UPSOT FIGHTING) And
this is how the army is pursuing its goal, at time with fierce house-to-house
fighting, in an offensive to drive the Muslim rebels off every one of its
camps. At
least 200 government troops have died – but the MILF says it’s killed more
like 800. (FATHER MERCADO OVER FIGHTING VISION FROM SERMON ON
WAR AND DEATH – THEN SYNCH) A
Catholic priest in Mindanao for more than three decades – Eliseo Mercado has
been in every meeting as the government and MILF tried to hammer out a peace
deal. The
offensive, he says, doesn't make sense when the MILF was ready to discuss
autonomy instead of independence. SYNCH MERCADO I THINK THE PRESIDENCY MYSELF IS NOW A HOSTAGE TO
THE PARTICULAR THE MILITARY VIEW THAT THE SOLUTION IN MINDANAO IS DEGRADING
THE CAPACITY OF THE MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT. BUT THEY NEVER ASK THE
QUESTION |