Jailhouse Rock
Al Qaeda Push for "Soft" Asian Targets
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It was a scenario Elvis never dreamed of experiencing when he sang this 1950’s hit. For one thing, the players weren’t just shimmying their legs and thumping cell bars to a rock and roll beat, they were actually dodging bullets and holding hostages as well.
It was a bountiful harvest for the side of law enforcement to begin with. All the Abu Sayyaf Commanders (at least, those who survived) from the very first (2001-02)hostage –taking incident in Sipadan, Malaysia to the subsequent Manila Light Rail Transit bombing, ferry boat bombing incident and Valentine bombings in the Philippines were in captivity and their transfer to a “maximum security” prison had just been implemented. The signal basis for this development had been a Dec, 2004 intel report from an informant that two .45 cal pistols and 50 rounds of ammunition would be smuggled into the prison by a female visitor. Two weeks before the aborted jail escape attempt, an intercepted cell phone message emanating from one of the Abu Sayyaf Commanders from( of all things) the “maximum-security” prison asking some of his colleagues to “secure eight safe houses” outside, were ignored by the notified Jail officials until the inevitable happened – lax jailguards who were conducting a routine headcount were attacked by some 10 Abu Sayyaf members who after grabbing their weapons and killing 3 guards, were able to initially seize two floors of a maximum security detention center at Camp Bagong Diwa (New Spirit).
Now when we talk of a prison facility in a developing country, we really mean a façade that looks well fortified, but internally, as expected of any cash-strapped country, is run with mind-boggling laxity, not to mention corruption. Stay-in guns for hire continue to operate for a fee from within prison walls. Certain fees are standardized for allowing overnight female companionship, even drugs. The prison camp itself was located in the middle and adjacent to a residential community of Bicutan, Taguig, a Manila suburb. A converted area within the facility was renamed Special Intensive Care Area (SICA) and served as the maximum-security area for 435 high-profile inmates which included drug pushers from southern China transferring their methamphetamine (shabu)laboratories to the Philippines and of course, 129 Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
Al Qaeda terrorists have made capital of the state of the lax and corrupt jail system in this developing country still without an anti-Terrorist bill, beginning with the escape of Indonesian bomber Al Ghozi 2 years ago from a Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters prison before being killed in a shootout, and the breakout of 50 inmates led by Abu Sayyaf terrorists using a smuggled pistol in Basilan island.
Even if the prison standoff ended decisively after 5 frustrated attempts at peaceful negotiations, with 22 Abu Sayyaf terrorists killed and 1 PNP casualty, investments for prison reform and economic development would ,without a doubt, significantly blunt the Al Qaeda push in the region.