CIA Director Leon Panetta praised Philippine efforts to eradicate terrorists in the country's south where American counterterrorism troops are deployed, a security official said Sunday. The American forces have provided weapons, intelligence and training that have helped the underfunded Philippine military since 2002 to eliminate many key commanders and strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaida linked group blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization. A few hundreds American soldiers remain in the Mindanao region. During a 30-minute meeting in Manila, Panetta and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo discussed Philippine military offensives that have killed several key Abu Sayyaf commanders and captured their key strongholds, Philippine National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez said. Arroyo also mentioned how her government rejected an Abu Sayyaf demand that Philippine troops pull out from most of southern Jolo Island in exchange for the freedom of three International Committee of the Red Cross aid workers, who were abducted last Jan. 15 and threatened with beheading, Gonzalez said. “That's the right thing to do,” Gonzalez quoted Panetta as saying. “We should not yield to terrorists” Panetta said. The Swiss, Italian and Filipino Red Cross workers have now all been freed. The last hostage, Italian engineer Eugenio Vagni, was released early Sunday. Arroyo mentioned Vagni's release from six months of jungle captivity in Jolo during the meeting with Panetta, who “was happy with the development,” Gonzalez said. Panetta expressed satisfaction with Philippine efforts, backed by US noncombat assistance, to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf and its Indonesian radical allies in Mindanao and did not mention any plan to change the current deployment of US counterterrorism troops there, he said. US officials have not released any statement about the Manila meetings. Arroyo said the Philippines wanted a more stable Middle East, where more than two million Filipinos work. Panetta, who assumed the top CIA post in February, will separately meet top police and intelligence officials before leaving late Sunday. Panetta's one-day trip to Manila follows last month's visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who promised continued US help in battling the Abu Sayyaf, citing a wave of kidnappings for ransom by the militants. Washington has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf because it has received funds and training from Al-Qaida and has staged many terrorist attacks, some of which have killed Americans.
