Philippines: June 14, 2001

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Police arrested two Abu Sayyaf members on Jolo. On Basilan, the government has begun arming villagers with weapons and providing village chiefs with cell phones to assist in the search for Abu Sayyaf rebels. Meanwhile, Abu Sayyaf has found a successful recruiting technique. Pay about $600 dollar to a mother or wife, and provide a gun to gun to the teenage son or husband, and the rebels have another recruit.  Basilan and Jolo are very poor and $600 is a lot of money. With so much ransom money on hand, Abu Sayyaf has no problem with manpower. But Abu Sayyaf does have a problem with how to split up the ransom riches, and this is causing growing strains among the many Abu Sayyaf factions.