Long before Spaniards conquered the Philippine archipelago, Chinese traders had arrived at the shores of Sulu, bringing with them silk and china to exchange for pearls and jewelry.

Early Chinese settlers found Sulu such a nice place and its people an innocent lot that they reportedly named the coastal boomtown Jolo, meaning "good community" in south China dialect.

But this community was not good any more after February 1974, when a raging fire burned the whole town into ashes, a catastrophic consequence of the escalating conflicts between the military and local Muslim rebels.

Thousands fled town, trade was choked and civilization was shattered, leaving the seat of ancient Sulu Kingdom to degenerate into a hotbed of insurgency and kidnappings.

Today, the remnant of Chinese merchants feared a repetition of the burning of Jolo 35 years ago as bandits took on a kidnapping spree, prompting government troops to accumulate in the jungles of this southern Philippine island for hostage rescue operation.

"A mobile text circulating among locals claimed that Abu Sayyaf militants might stage surprise attacks in downtown Jolo to divert the military's attention," said Chen Shaoqing, a Filipino-Chinese who owned several pawn shops in Sulu.

"Tension started to build up in the air of Jolo. We are all worried," Chen told Xinhua in Zamboanga after temporarily leaving his lucrative business to neighbors.

In less than a month, the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and affiliated gangs have abducted 13 people, including three foreigners, on the island of Jolo, Basilan, and in nearby Zamboanga city. By Monday, at least eight hostages remain in the hands of bandits.

Government troops are particularly cornering the fraction of Abu Sayyaf rebels holing up in the hinterland of Jolo with three hostages of International Committee of the Red Cross -- Swiss national Andreas Notter, 38, Italian Eugenio Vagni, 62, and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, 37, with their abduction on January 15.

Abu Sayyaf militants trying to break the military cordon lobbed mortar shells and clashed with the troops. Two rebels were killed while at least twenty soldiers and civilians were hurt.

Alexander Yano, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Monday said the forcible rescue operation is not the best option at the time but he did not discount that possibility.

"There may be instances where the military option will be inevitable, but we cannot say as to this time. We are giving some leeway to those on the ground to ensure that there is a proper mix at a given situation," he said.

Chen, who has been doing business for ten years in Sulu, said even old Sulu-hands like him had fears.

"It is not just the conflicts. Now, almost every businessman is a target of cash-strapped kidnappers. Two years ago, two of my relatives were brutally murdered by Abu Sayyaf for not meeting their ransom demand," Chen said. 　

HIGH RISK, HIGH PROFIT

Chen's fears are not unfounded. There are around 1,000 Filipino-Chinese running business in Sulu islands. Though Filipino Muslims are generally on good terms with Chinese, Abu Sayyaf in recent years has become more undiscriminating at choosing targets as experts say the group has lost overseas finances and badly needs money to maintain its operations.

Since last December, two Chinese were kidnapped in Sulu province. Diokhing Que, 60, a Filipino-Chinese grocery shop owner was freed ten days after abduction while Wu Xili, alias Peter Go, 19, a Chinese national who helped relatives run a shop in Jolo was still in the captive.

Sulu police and government officials earlier revealed that Wu was still alive but his abductors have demanded a high ransom payment.

Hong Huiqin, a Chinese running a hardware store in Jolo, said abductors allegedly requested 3 million pesos (63,829 U.S. dollars) in exchange for Wu's release but Wu's family had only managed to raise one third of that amount.

Hong, who sneaked out her store to Zamboanga to avoid volatile security, told Xinhua that it is important to remain low-key and extremely cautious to do business in Sulu and the exceptional long business hours of Wu's grocery store and its booming business might have caught the attention of kidnapping gangs.

Chen said normally Chinese-run stores in Jolo closed at around 5 o'clock in the afternoon but most shops close two hours earlier in recent weeks to dodge kidnappers.

But Chen said he had no plan to close down his Sulu pawn shops. "I will return. The place where few people dare to go rewards dwelling businessmen with high profit."

Rufino Lim, a Filipino-Chinese tycoon in Zamboanga, said business opportunities are much better here than in China for those who come from southern China villages and received little education to compete in China's highly-competitive job market.

Blessed with abundant natural resources, Western Mindanao and Sulu sea will never lose its appealing to aspirant businessmen, Lim said.

As the global economic crisis takes severe toll on China's export-oriented manufacturers, a growing number of factory laid-offs in China's southeastern coastal villages may join the overseas businesses of their country folks in the coming months, Chinese diplomats and industry observers in Manila have said.

Source: Xinhua