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| Southeast Asia |
| Basilan militia fighters not joining Abu Sayyaf |
| 2005-01-28 |
| MILITIAMEN in Basilan Island are "intact and all accounted for," the military said Wednesday amid reports that they have joined the Abu Sayyaf bandit group. This was revealed after Colonel Apolinario Alobba, commander of the Army's 18th Infantry Batallion based in the island province conducted an accounting of Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) upon orders from Army chief Lieutenant General Generoso Senga. "They are all on high morale and fully under the control of the Army Battalion commander," Army spokesman Major Bartolome Bacarro said in a statement. "The circulating news stemmed from the statements of some CAFGU whose services were terminated due to various offenses committed," Bacarro said. The dismissal of some CAFGUs was due, among others, to failure to report for duty, refusal to take refresher courses, drug abuse, and old age, Bacarro said. Other CAFGUs on the other hand resigned from the service due to low pay. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |