The killing and then beheading of at least ten Philippine Marines by the suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in Basilan was against the Geneva convention.
Reports confirmed that a group of soldiers from the Philippine Marines were pursuing the kidnappers of the Italian priest Father
Giancarlo Bossi, of the Rome-based Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), who were believed to be within the vicinity when the military truck they were riding suffered mechanical trouble. It was at this instance when the suspected Muslim rebels pounced on them.
Let us say that the soldiers failed to follow the ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the military is not at all valid to behead the soldiers who were just out to save the life of a foreign priest held captive by a Muslim extremist group.
Worse comes to worst, the soldiers could have been held prisoners of war (POWS) rather than behead them. In the course of a firefight, nobody could tell who will survive but beheading the enemies was downright deliberate in an attempt to show the world how barbaric they are in treating their captured enemies. Should another encounter happens and the situation is on the side of the military, what do you will the military do? Perhaps, they will skin their captives alive and feed to the crocodiles. The question now is: How come these Muslim extremist group cannot follow accepted international protocol? Is if because of ignorance or total hatred for the uniformed personnel, who are only doing their assigned duties as peacekeepers.
Consequently, the government has sent a battalion of soldiers to arrest, dead or alive, the killers of the soldiers, who were suspected to be seeking refuge inside the MILF rebels’ stronghold in a Basilan hinterland.
As this developed, the Italian priest, who was abducted by at least 10 armed men after celebrating mass with villagers in Bulawan in the town of Zamboanga Sibugay province, is nowhere to be found. However, the military suspected he is still alive and hidden somewhere while the ransom money is being raised, if there is any transaction at all.