First Came the Handshake, Then the Massacre

Early one morning last week, Philippine Brigadier General Teodulfo Bautista, accompanied by 34 of his men (including five colonels), strode trustingly into the tiny marketplace of Patikul on Jolo Island, some 600 miles south of Manila. Bautista, 49, had come to Patikul for peace talks with Osman Salleh, a local chieftain of the Moro National Liberation Front, which has been fighting a civil war in the southern islands for nearly five years. Salleh had hinted that his 150 men were ready to join the government's side. As he greeted Bautista with a smile, a harsh voice shouted, "Dapal!" (Hit the dirt). Salleh dropped to the ground as some 150 M.N.L.F. troops stepped into the open and shot. Bautista and all but one of his men were killed instantly.

The massacre was a severe blow to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos' hopes that a cease-fire signed with the Muslim rebels last December might continue, for the insurgents' brazen self-confidence suggests that they have been receiving fresh weapons from abroad. Observers fear a full-scale resumption of the government's anti-insurgency campaign that at its peak, cost Philippine forces 75 dead and 300 wounded weekly.

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