ASG member surrenders in Zamboanga City

BY NONOY E LACSON

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A notorious member of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), who served as one of the guards of Samal Island kidnap victims, surrendered on Monday to the military in this city after laying low for more than three years, a military official said Tuesday.

Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom) commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr. identified the former ASG gunman as Serhan Nieva Saliddin, alias Al-Mhahdi, who worked under ASG leader Mujer Yadah, alias Commander Mujer.

Vinluan said Saliddin served as one of the guards of Canadians Robert Hall and John Ridsdel whom they kidnapped at Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort on Samal Island in Davao del Norte on September 21, 2015.

Military records showed that the ASG disarmed the resort’s security guards and snatched Hall and Ridsdel, resort marina manager Kjartan Sekkingstad (Norway), and Teresita Flor, Hall’s Filipino girlfriend.

Flor was released a few months after Hall was beheaded by the bandits.

The ASG demanded $6 million ransom for Hall’s freedom but negotiations for his release failed. He was beheaded on June 13, 2016 or nine months after near Patikul, Sulu province.

The last of the group’s hostage, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, was released in September 2016.

“Based on the report submitted by Joint Task Force Zamboanga, a certain Serhan Nieva Saliddin, a.k.a. Al-Mhahdi submitted himself to the military, bringing along his firearm, an M14 rifle, with him,” Vinluan added.

According to Saliddin, he also participated in three encounters with the government forces. Fearing for his life, he decided to lie low and started moving from one place to another, after which he traveled to Sabah in January 2019 where he was employed as a construction worker.

He then moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he was imprisoned due to illegal entry. He was among the Filipino deportees who were sent back to Zamboanga City in October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joint Task Force (JTF) Zamboanga commander Col. Antonio John Divinagracia said Saliddin finally decided to surrender because he wants to clear his name.

Lt. Col. Alaric Avelino delos Santos, assistant chief of Unified Command Staff for Civil-Military Operations of the AFP-WestMinCom, said Saliddin will be included in the reintegration and rehabilitation program of the government. (Nonoy Lacson)