Philippine government winning war on militants with cash

"Since the programme started two years ago we have managed to arrest and neutralise a number of key Islamic militants," said Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga, chief of the Western Mindanao command.

So far 17.3 million pesos (about $393,000) has been paid out to informants whose help has either led to the arrest or death of at least nine militants, Allaga said.

"These people are not political they are bandits," he said.

One of those killed was Khadaffy Janjalani, the leader of the Al Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group.

In dollar terms the payout may seem paltry to outsiders but to poor Filipinos a million pesos is a windfall.

"It can change their lives for ever," Allaga said urging relatives, friends or acquaintances of Abu Sayyaf militants to come forward and turn them in and get paid for it.

He said the identity of those who give information against the militants is protected.

Money is normally handed out in crisp one thousand peso notes, often bundled up in bags and the "informants" wear hoods.

Many of the informants are either former Abu Sayyaf rebels or relatives seeking easy cash.

"The reward for justice programme has been very effective in ending much of the lawlessness in the region," Allaga said although he is reluctant to talk about the operations of US Special Forces in the area.

The US Special Forces have been rotating in and out of western Mindanao since 2003 training and helping the Philippine military combat Muslim extremists.

"The programme has also been a good way of telling the public that their efforts will be rewarded and that the long arm of the law will reach those lawless elements."

Allaga, a tough-talking Marine and a battle field veteran against a decades-old Muslim insurgency, said lawlessness has dropped markedly since the programme was introduced about two years ago.

Allaga said that much of the Islamic militancy in the south of the country has been aggravated by crushing poverty.

Much of the mineral-rich southern Mindanao island remains locked in poverty, despite government efforts to improve the local economy.

On Saturday three more people collected 4.5 million pesos for information that led the military to arrest Abu Sayyaf militants Tautin Anahalul, Usman Asari and Aramil Sulayman.

The total payouts to date total 17.3 million pesos.

Anahalul was arrested in January after a raid by military intelligence personnel in a remote southern island.

He played a key role in kidnapping a group of tourists, including three Americans, from the Dos Palmas island resort in western Palawan in 2001.

One of the Americans was beheaded, while another, missionary Martin Burnham, died during a rescue attempt a year later. Burnham's wife, Gracia, survived the ordeal and was reunited with her children in Kansas City.

Asari was involved in a series of low-profile kidnappings and random robberies while Sulayman was wanted for a string of murders.

After the money was handed over Allaga told the informants: "The information you have given will not only change your life but may change the plight of the whole region in terms of security, peace and development."