JOLO CITY, Philippines — Ben Tattoo stood at the jailhouse door, looking resentful as he stuck his arms through the bars. Handed an orange t-shirt that branded him a detainee, he covered his face with it.
As a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, Tattoo used to be the one who took prisoners and made them wear orange shirts.
In 2015, he kidnapped Canadians Robert Hall and John Ridsdel from a marina in the southern Philippines. When no ransoms were paid, he coldly beheaded them, on video for the world to see.
But on June 17, Tattoo came out of hiding and surrendered, handing his prized M-16 rifle to the Philippine army.
Basketball net at Sulu Provincial Jail, Jolo City, Philippines.
Stewart Bell/Global News
Tattoo surrendered after the military almost got him on the island of Basilan, according to Brigadier General Ignatius Patrimonio, head of the armed forces in Jolo. With his latest wife pregnant, Tattoo decided he couldn’t keep running and began working out the terms of his surrender.
The general said he warned Tattoo that while he would not be killed, he would face charges for his crimes. Tattoo agreed, but asked the army to take care of his family. His 28-year-old wife was later allowed to deliver her baby at the Jolo hospital. She will also receive benefits afforded to surrenderees.
Tattoo has been talking and recently led the army to a cache of improvised explosive components belonging to Mundi Sawadjaan, Gen. Patrimonio said. A police official said Tattoo admitted his role in Abu Sayyaf but denied involvement in bombings.
“He has been cooperating believing that he will be acquitted on all his cases,” police said.
For security reasons, the trial for the abduction and murder of Hall and Ridsdel is taking place in Manila, and Tattoo may be transferred there.
Philippine police declined to comment on the role played by Canada in hunting down the kidnappers.
The RCMP would only say it was aware of the arrests of two individuals “suspected of having played significant roles in the ongoing murder investigations of Robert Hall and John Ridsdel in 2016.”
“The RCMP is aware of, and monitoring, a judicial process initiated in the Philippines,” said media relations officer Cpl. Kim Chamberland. “As this is an ongoing investigation, the RCMP has no further comments on this matter.”
After leaving the Sulu jail, Sgt. Musil got into a pickup that drove out of the city late in the afternoon, through the shanties of Indanan to Parang. The ocean was a pond. The floats of pearl farms bobbed offshore. The town smelled like dried fish. Bancas were grounded in the estuary mud.
The idyllic west coast of Jolo island used to be Abu Sayyaf’s haven: Kidnap victims, including Ridsdel and Hall, were brought ashore here after they were abducted.
Now there is a beachfront resort and a park with a covered picnic area. Officials hope that if tourists come, locals will have career options other than going into the mountains to fight and kidnap. Terrorism to tourism.
At Tanduh Beach, five girls wearing hijabs waded into the warm water, then took out kayaks and paddle boards as the sun dissolved into the Sulu Sea and a karaoke singer butchered Bohemian Rhapsody from a villa. “Mama, just killed a man…”
[email protected]Lorela Sandoval assisted with the reporting of this story in the Philippines
