The Philippine government, military and media regularly represent the Abu Sayyaf as being the main perpetrators of atrocities in the southern Philippines. This paper challenges such representations through an outline of the phenomenon of kidnapping in the region. Opening with a vignette of the phenomenon drawn from primary sources, the paper then considers in greater detail its objective conditions, the identities of its perpetrators and sponsors, and their interdependencies. The available evidence strongly indicates that kidnappings in the zone are instigated mainly by key power brokers, who engage or collaborate with local armed groups for the purpose.
AbinalesP. N. (1998), ‘State leaders, apparatuses and local strongmen: The Philippine military under Marcos’, in Images of State Power: Essays on Philippine Politics From the Margins, University of the Philippines Press, Diliman, Quezon City, pp 100–136.
BalanaC. D. (2007), ‘Bossi tags Abu Sayyaf but Italian envoy disagrees’, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 August.
18.
BlokA. (1972), ‘The peasant and the brigand: Social banditry reconsidered’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol 14, No 4, p 494–503.
19.
BlokA. (1974), The Mafia of a Sicilian Village 1860-1960: A Study of Violent Peasant Entrepreneurs, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
20.
BourdieuP. (2000), Pascalian Meditations, trans NiceRichard, Polity Press, Oxford.
21.
BowdenM. (2007), ‘Jihadists in paradise’, The Atlantic Monthly, March, pp 54–75.
22.
BriscoeC. H. (2004), ‘Balikatan exercise spearheaded ARSOF operations in the Philippines’, Special Warfare, September, pp 16–25.
23.
BurnhamG., with MerrillDean (2003), In the Presence of My Enemies, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL.
24.
Calvo, A., CMF (1985), A Dialogue of Life and Faith: A Missionary Experience Among the Muslim in Basilan, the Philippines, trans Joseph Daries, CMF, General Prefecture of Formation—Claretian Secretariat, Rome.
ColeB., ed (2006), ‘The Philippines media: Agent of stability or restraint?’ in Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia, Routledge, London, pp 61–81.
DavidR. (2004), ‘Postmodern bandits’, in Nation, Self and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine Sociology (with introductory essays by Josephine Dionisio, Gerardo Lanuza and Arnold Alamon), Anvil, Pasig City, pp 60–62.
EckertW. (2006), ‘Defeating the idea: Unconventional warfare in the southern Philippines’, Special Warfare, Vol 19, No 6, pp 18–22.
36.
EnglishL. J. (1986), Tagalog–English Dictionary, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Quezon City.
37.
FeganB. (1993), ‘Entrepreneurs in votes and violence: Three generations of a peasant political family’, in McCoyAlfred W., ed, An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, pp 33–107.
GomezJ. (2007), ‘Security officials see no strong successor to Janjanali’, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 21 January.
45.
GowingP. G.McAmisR. D., eds (1974), The Muslim Filipinos, Solidaridad Publishing House, Manila.
46.
GuerlanK.StankovitchM., eds (2000), Rebels, Warlords and Ulama: A Reader on Muslim Separatism and the War in the Southern Philippines, Institute for Popular Democracy, Quezon City.
47.
GutierrezE. (2000a), ‘New faces of violence in Muslim Mindanao’, in GuerlanK.StankovitchM., eds, Rebels, Warlords and Ulama: A Reader on Muslim Separatism and the War in the Southern Philippines, Institute for Popular Democracy, Quezon City, pp 349–362.
48.
GutierrezE. (2000b), ‘In the battlefields of the warlord’, in GuerlanK.StankovitchM., eds, Rebels, Warlords and Ulama: A Reader on Muslim Separatism and the War in the Southern Philippines, Institute for Popular Democracy, Quezon City, pp 39–84.
49.
GutierrezE.GuialalA. (2000), ‘The unfinished jihad: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and peace in Mindanao’, in GuerlanK.StankovitchM., eds, Rebels, Warlords and Ulama: A Reader on Muslim Separatism and the War in the Southern Philippines, Institute for Popular Democracy, Quezon City, pp 263–292.
50.
Hamilton-HartN. (2005), ‘Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Expert analysis, myopia and fantasy’, The Pacific Review, Vol 18, No 3, pp 303–325.
51.
HDN/UNDP/NZAID (2005), Philippine Human Development Report 2005: Peace, Human Security and Human Development in the Philippines, 2 ed, Human Development Network (HDN) in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), Website: http://hdr.undp.org/docs/reports/national/PHI_Philippines/Philippines2005_en.pdf.
52.
HedmanE.-L. E.SidelJ. T. (2000), Philippine Politics and Society in the Twentieth Century: Colonial Legacies, Post-Colonial Trajectories, Routledge, London.
53.
HorvatichP. (1992), ‘Mosques and misunderstandings: Muslim discourses in Tawi-Tawi, Philippines’, PhD dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
54.
International Crisis Group (2008), The Philippines: Counter-Insurgency vs. Counter-Terrorism in Mindanao, 14 May, International Crisis Group, Jakarta and Brussels.
JunkerL. L. (2000), Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms, Ateneo de Manila Press, Quezon City.
61.
KaplanR. D. (2006), Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military, From Mongolia to the Philippines to Iraq and Beyond, Vintage Books, New York.
62.
KesslerR. J. (1989), Rebellion and Repression in the Philippines, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
63.
KieferT. M. (1969), ‘Tausug armed conflict: The social organization of military activity in a Philippine Moslem society’, PhD dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
64.
KieferT. M. (1970), ‘Modes of social action in armed combat: Affect, tradition and reason in Tausug private warfare’, Man, Vol 5, No 4, pp 586–596.
65.
KieferT. M. (1972), The Tausug: Violence and Law in a Philippine Moslem Society, Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL.
66.
KieferT. M. (1974), ‘Institutionalized friendship and warfare among the Tausug of Jolo’, and ‘The Tausug of Jolo and the modern Philippines’, in GowingP. G.McAmisR. D., eds, The Muslim Filipinos, Solidaridad Publishing House, Manila.
67.
LaudeJ. (2007), ‘Negotiations for Bossi's release moving at snail's pace’, The Philippine Star, 11 July.
68.
LaudeJ. (2007), ‘Abus at their weakest — AFP’, The Philippine Star, 21 September.
69.
McKennaT. M. (1998), Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Philippine Congress, Senate (2008), ‘Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate to honor the life of Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI, and his contributions to better the lives of his parishioners in Tabawan, Tawi-Tawi and to condemn his senseless killing’, 13 February, Website: http://www.senate.gov.ph/14th_congress/resolutions/resno56.pdf.
SantosS. M.Jr (2008), ‘Letter to the editor’, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 24 January.
85.
SelochanV. (1990), ‘Professionalization and politicization of the armed forces of the Philippines’, PhD dissertation, Australian National University, Canberra.
86.
SidelJ. T. (2007), The Islamist Threat in Southeast Asia: A Reassessment, Policy Studies Working Paper 37, East-West Center, Washington, DC.
87.
SidelJ. T.HedmanE.-L. (2000), Philippine Politics and Society in the Twentieth Century: Colonial Legacies, Post-Colonial Trajectories, Routledge, London.
TillyC. (1967), The Vendee, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
93.
TillyC. (1974), ‘Foreword’, in BlokA., ed, The Mafia of a Sicilian Village 1860–1960: A Study of Violent Peasant Entrepreneurs, Blackwell, Oxford.
94.
TillyC. (2003), The Politics of Collective Violence, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
95.
TorresJ.Jr (2001), Into the Mountain: Hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf (edited and with an introduction by NeryJ.), Claretian Publications, Quezon City.
96.
TurnerM. (1995), ‘Terrorism and secession in the southern Philippines: The rise of the Abu Sayyaf’, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol 17, No 1, pp 1–19.
97.
TurnerM. (1998), ‘Kidnapping and politics’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, Vol 26, pp 145–160.
98.
TurnerM. (2003), ‘The management of violence in a conflict organization: The case of the Abu Sayyaf’, Public Organization Review: A Global Journal, Vol 3, pp 387–401.
Van Den MuijzenbergO. D. (1973), ‘Political mobilization and violence in Central Luzon (Philippines)’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol 7, No 4, pp 691–705.
101.
VanziS. J.UnsonJ. (2008), ‘AFP bares fresh threats vs priests in Mindanao’, The Philippine Star, 18 January.
102.
VitugM. D.GloriaG. M. (2000), Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao, Ateneo Center for Social Policy & Public Affairs/Institute for Popular Democracy, Quezon City.
103.
WarrenJ. F. (2003), A Tale of Two Centuries: The Globalisation of Maritime Raiding and Piracy in Southeast Asia at the End of the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Working Paper Series 2, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
