Jolo's Seven Martyrs by Prospero Pulma Jr.

Jolo's Seven Martyrs

Jelowi Teodoro, Wilmer de los Santos, Dennis de los Reyes, Roger Francisco, and three other men, all Christians, only wanted to feed their families by working at a road project in Jolo. The Abu Sayyaf Group wanted to avenge the killing of their commander and to disprove the claim of the Philippine military and its American backers that the group has been emasculated with the deaths of Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Solaiman. They picked the seven to deliver their message. The ASG abducted the construction workers, beheaded them, and sent their decapitated bodies and heads to Philippine security forces. The message has been sent and received, but the reaction is baffling. No massive outpouring of condemnation that accompanies every death of an activist. No effusive expression of vitriol from self-proclaimed human rights advocates. Nothing.

In a land where joining the Abu Sayyaf, which has netted millions of pesos in ransom from high-profile kidnappings, has become more lucrative than a regular job, especially construction work that taxes the body greatly, the seven chose manual labor over a life of banditry and terrorism. They were poor. Only a few people knew about them until the ASG added them to their list of victims. Now, their widows and orphans have become poorer with their deaths. The seven men have no powerful kith and kin. They have no friends in the House of Representatives who will advise Philip Alston to conduct a sham investigation and kangaroo trial of the Abu Sayyaf. But they were Juan de la Cruz like you and me.

-Prospero Pulma Jr.-