Murders Philippines

After 4 1/2 years as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief here, Andy Fenrich figured that Operation King Cobra was bound to be a classic. Two Philippine businessmen wanted to sell 22 pounds of high-grade heroin. Unknown to them, the buyer was an undercover DEA agent backed by elite Philippine police. As hidden video cameras rolled and tape recorders whirred, the date and price was set for one of the biggest Philippine drug stings--called a "buy-and-bust" here--ever.

A firefight between army troops and a gang of kidnappers in a southern province left two Chinese hostages and six kidnappers dead. The two hostages were among four Chinese and a Filipino seized a week ago by former Muslim guerrillas, military officials said. Col. Allan Cabalsento, who led the army troops, said they found about 20 kidnappers and their captives in Sultan Kudarat province.

Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot and killed three Americans, two of them active-duty military personnel and the third a retired Air Force officer, in separate ambushes all within a mile of America's sprawling Clark Air Base north of Manila. American and Philippine military authorities said Wednesday night that they had no clues to the identity of the killers, and details of the attacks were sketchy.

Muslim rebels who kidnapped about two dozen hostages, including three Americans, dumped the beheaded bodies of two captives near a highway outside the capital of a remote southern island Saturday, police said. The two Filipinos, found near Isabela, appeared to have been killed that morning, Philippine police said.

Orlando Dulay was relaxing at his poolside cabana, playing with his pet rabbits, chatting with some small-time political bosses and military friends who had dropped in. He smiled as he discussed the charges of murder, kidnaping and torture pending against him. Two days earlier, last Tuesday, the Supreme Court in Manila had ordered that Dulay be arrested immediately for "heinous" crimes against the people.

An awkward vigil continued Tuesday night in a quiet Riverside County neighborhood as a Corona man's family waited to hear if he had been beheaded by Philippine rebels. The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who seek to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, this week claimed that they had executed Guillermo Sobero, one of three Americans they kidnapped last month along with 17 Filipinos. State Department officials said they have not confirmed the death.

Vice President Dan Quayle, who arrived amid anti-American demonstrations here Tuesday night shortly after suspected Communist rebels killed two American employees at a U.S. military base, today condemned the killings as "cowardly murders" that were linked to his visit. Although no group immediately claimed responsibility, U.S.

Troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers stormed a military garrison Friday but failed to dislodge Muslim captors who killed a general they were holding hostage. Military Chief of Staff Gen. Renato de Villa said he feared a second officer held hostage since Thursday also was slain. He ordered troops to prepare another assault and said the Muslims "will die fighting."

A U.S. Air Force sergeant was shot and killed Monday night by gunmen in a residential subdivision near Clark Air Base north of Manila, American and Philippine authorities said today. The victim, who was identified by local authorities as Sgt. Richard Blackmer, 34, apparently was walking his two German shepherds through the Mountain View subdivision about a mile from the U.S. base's main gate about 9:30 p.m. when gunmen in a passing car opened fire with automatic weapons, local police said.

A longstanding feud between two families erupted into a gun battle at a town fiesta in the southern Philippines, leaving seven dead and 31 injured, the military said Saturday. In a delayed report, it said the victims were caught in the crossfire Tuesday between the Tulawie and Tan families, who clashed in a public square in the town of Jolo.

Three severed heads were found Thursday in an area where Muslim extremists claimed to have killed an American hostage last week. The victims were believed to be Filipinos. Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said the heads were so badly decomposed that they would be hard to identify. But he added that none was that of Guillermo Sobero, 40, of Corona, who was among 20 people--including two other Americans--seized from a resort May 27.

An awkward vigil continued Tuesday night in a quiet Riverside County neighborhood as a Corona man's family waited to hear if he had been beheaded by Philippine rebels. The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who seek to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, this week claimed that they had executed Guillermo Sobero, one of three Americans they kidnapped last month along with 17 Filipinos. State Department officials said they have not confirmed the death.

Muslim rebels claimed today that they had beheaded a Southern California man who was among the group's two dozen hostages, but the Philippine military cautioned that the guerrillas have previously lied about such killings. Abu Sabaya, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf rebels, called a radio station and said the guerrillas had killed Guillermo Sobero, 40, a resident of Corona, who was among 20 people abducted from an upscale island resort in May.

Muslim guerrillas staged three attacks on villages in the southern Philippines, killing at least 15 people, including 12 civilians, military officials said Sunday. Meanwhile, officials announced the arrests of 26 people, including Muslim rebels trained in bomb-making, on suspicion of involvement in recent explosions at two large shopping malls in Manila.

Four hostages were found dead Wednesday--shot execution-style and some mutilated--after Muslim rebels holding 27 captives stumbled across Philippine troops by a river crossing and both sides opened fire. Many of the hostages were children seized from a school. Fifteen children and teachers were rescued after the gunfight in Basilan province, but military officials said others were taken by the fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels.

Eight people were killed and more than 30 injured Sunday when a gang robbing stores inside a Philippine mall hurled a grenade at shoppers outside the complex in an attempt to escape police, authorities said. Four suspects were arrested, but four others escaped after robbing jewelry shops inside the mall in the Manila district of Paranaque. Police said a robber acting as a lookout tossed a grenade at police officers, who were rushing to the mall in response to the robberies.

A heavy afternoon rain Wednesday washed the bloodstains and police chalk marks off a lonely stretch of road near this town about 60 miles north of Manila. Only some bullet holes remain, chipped in the concrete crypts of a graveyard that flanks the road on both sides. But the impact of the slaying Tuesday of two Americans employed at a U.S. military base will not fade so easily for the more than 80,000 Americans living in this increasingly tense country.

At least 11 people were killed and nearly 1,000 seriously injured in Manila on Friday as Filipinos rang in 1988 with their traditional annual orgy of gunfire, grenades and hundreds of tons of explosives. Hospital authorities said that all but one of the fatalities were caused by accidental knifings or stray bullets fired into the air during the hours that Manilans turn the capital into a virtual war zone on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

A man, along with a boy, possibly as young as 10, shot and killed a Roman Catholic bishop in a flare-up of violence against church officials in a southern region racked by Muslim secessionist violence. A church spokesman said Bishop Benjamin de Jesus died instantly when he was shot six times with .45-caliber pistols at point-blank range near his cathedral on Jolo island. Jolo, about 560 miles south of Manila, is one of the most volatile areas in the Mindanao region.

With a crime wave intensifying and Manila beginning to resemble an armed camp, the top leadership of the Philippine national police has come under intense criticism following allegations that officers summarily executed 11 handcuffed men accused of bank robbery and then attempted a cover-up.