Retreating Abu Sayyaf terrorists could be eyeing Malaysia as their most likely destination in fleeing the country as government troops advanced to rescue the bandit's remaining Filipino hostage, according to National Security Adviser Roilo Golez. "Malaysia is the nearest escape destination but the Malaysian government is also keeping its eyes trained on their possible arrival," Golez said yesterday, even as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo offered the "peace of the graveyard" to the defiant rebels.

With this possibility, Golez said, the Malaysian authorities could already be making preparations for such a happening, although the Philippines and Malaysia have an existing joint border patrol agreement. Golez issued the warning following last Thursday's rescue of American Jeffrey Schilling after seven months in captivity.

Filipino Roland Ullah who was with the 21 foreigners abducted by the bandits in Sipadan Island off Sabah on April 23 last year is still held by the Abu Sayyaf. "They (the bandits) are now scattered. They can go into hiding but we will pursue them to the ends of the earth," Golez said, adding that the lairs of the retreating Abu Sayyaf in Sulu have been already identified.

"The President's instructions are that operations will continue until they surrender," he added.
A senior military official disclosed that Abu Sayyaf chief Khaddafy Janjalani and his spokesperson Abu Sabaya were able to escape to their original hideout in Basilan after the rescue of Schilling in Luuk town in Jolo province.

The troops found Schilling chained in a hut, freed him and took him to a military base. He was flown to Arroyo who was having a Holy Week retreat in Baguio City on Friday. U.S. Embassy spokesperson Michael Anderson said the 25-year-old Muslim convert would be debriefed by the embassy and the Philippine government before he would be sent home to Oakland, California to be reunited with his mother Carol.

Janjalani and Sabaya were responsible for Schilling's abduction on August 28 last year. "But it will not take long before we finally catch up with them, " said an intelligence officer requesting anonymity. The officer said it would now be easy for the military to capture other members of the Abu Sayyaf since the group's mass support has dwindled as a result of its involvement in terrorist acts.

"Their followers have greatly diminished and it's a matter of time that they will fall into government's hands," according to the officer. More than half a million Filipinos live in the Malaysian state of Sabah, many of them illegal immigrants from the Muslim areas of the southern Philippines. The guerrillas are estimated to number about 1,000.

Golez said Manila and Kuala Lumpur have a joint border patrol agreement aimed at curbing smuggling, drug trafficking and piracy in the Celebes and Sulu Seas. Some Jolo policemen grumbled that they were the ones who actually rescued Schilling and not the military as was being claimed, said former Senator Santanina Rasul. Rasul said a policeman named Timbag was the one who actually found Schilling in the bandit's lair and brought him to marine headquarter near Jolo airport.