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| Southeast Asia |
| Filippino cops deny terror suspects recycled |
| 2005-02-25 |
| PRESIDENT Macapagal-Arroyo has commended the military and police for their "string of successes" against terrorism, but the four men whom the Philippine National Police yesterday paraded in Camp Crame have been in PNP custody since last December. "Definitely, they're not recycled," Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, director of the PNP Intelligence Group, said of the four men. "We purposely intended to withhold their presentation." The four -- Indonesians Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Mohammed Yusop Karim Faiz and Malaysian Ted Yolanda, all alleged members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist network, and Filipino Muhajir de la Merced, allegedly of the Abu Sayyaf -- were presented to the media under heavy security. De la Merced, supposedly a convert to Islam, shouted "Allahu akbar (God is great)!" while being ushered into the conference room. The four have been in police custody since last Dec. 14, when they were arrested at the Zamboanga City port. Shortly before the announced press conference, Rafanan told reporters that the four men "did the planning and brought the fund" for the Valentine's Day bombings. He said the PNP announced their arrest only yesterday "because we had a lot of follow-ups to do, like the identification of the local components of the JI and Abu Sayyaf cells." Among the cells identified is one based in Metro Manila, Rafanan said. But he did not elaborate, saying intelligence operatives were still working on the case. When asked at the press conference about the four men's actual participation in the Feb. 14 bombings, Rafanan said police were still "in the process of checking or verifying their possible involvement." "For now, we cannot officially link them to the three bombings," he said. Rafanan's admission meant that so far, only two men -- Gamal "Tapay" Baharan and Angelo Trinidad -- had been arrested in connection with the bombings that killed eight people and wounded at least 150 others in the cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos. In an interview with ABS-CBN television last night, Trinidad broke down as he admitted planting and triggering the bomb that exploded inside a passenger bus in Makati. "I cannot deny it in front of you, and in front of God I cannot deny it. It is clear that I was the one who did it," he said. The report said he also admitted belonging to the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group. Trinidad said that Abu Solaiman, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader, told him on Feb. 12 to assemble a bomb, then ordered him to plant it inside a bus. Trinidad said another bus originally was targeted. "When I looked at the back (of the bus), I saw a child, a baby around 6 months old carried by its father. I told myself I could not go through with this," he recalled, tears welling in his eyes. He said he got off that bus and approached another. "I then picked a bus that did not have many passengers," he added. "I placed the bomb at the back and when we reached Ayala (Avenue), we got off. Then we boarded another bus and he said 'detonate it."' It was not clear whether "he" referred to Solaiman or Baharan. Trinidad said he got the bomb-making materials from a cohort he identified only as Maidan, and that assembly took five hours. To the question of how the purported planners managed to pull off the near-simultaneous bomb attacks despite being behind bars, Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes said: "We cannot prevent everything. We cannot assure [the public] that we can catch everybody." The PNP intelligence chief, Director Robert Delfin, had his own explanation: "When you arrest one unit, there's still the possibility that another unit will do the same job." Rafanan said the four men were in fact arrested for their alleged plot to bomb at least five targets in Metro Manila and Mindanao during the Christmas season. Among the targets were shopping malls and American soldiers participating in the RP-US Balikatan exercises, he said. "Before they could do their thing, they were picked up in our ports," said PNP Director General Edgar Aglipay. "So that means that compared with other countries in our region, we have a better way of monitoring [terrorists] and limiting their capability." Reyes lamented that despite the evidence purportedly seized from the four men, police could charge them only with illegal possession of firearms and explosives and violating immigration laws. "Ideally, we should be able to charge them with conspiracy to commit terrorism, but because of the lack of an antiterrorism law, we have to charge them only with violation of the Revised Penal Code," Reyes said. Rafanan said that as early as last Dec. 14, local authorities, in coordination with their foreign counterparts, had monitored the arrival of Hamid, Faiz and Yolanda from Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Sandakan (Malaysia). He said that two days later at around 3 p.m., intelligence operatives arrested the three along with De la Merced soon after they arrived at the Zamboanga City port. De la Merced was to serve as the "guide" of the others on their way to Camp Hudaibiya in Maguindanao, Rafanan claimed. The group was supposed to train local recruits in bomb-making. Rafanan said two pistols, cellular phones, terrorist training books and substances and equipment used in bomb-making were seized from the group. He said the loot also included the amount of $7,000, allegedly to be used for five separate bombings, and a video supposed to be shown to the recruits in Camp Hudaibiya. The video, showing the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden inviting recruits to join the international terrorist effort, "clearly shows the connection between the JI and Bin Laden's al-Qaida network," Rafanan told reporters who were asked to view the footage. Rafanan described Hamid, Faiz and Yolanda as "top-level" JI members involved in distributing funds and training recruits in the Philippines. Delfin said it was the JI that was coordinating terrorists' local efforts among the Abu Sayyaf, a group of Islamic converts, and renegade members of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "The JI does not operate here alone," Delfin said. "It taps local terrorists for a job." At the time of their arrest, Hamid and company were supposed to train local recruits in making powerful explosives such as "helmet" bombs, "body" bombs and car bombs, Rafanan said. "It's quite alarming because they have reached that level," he said. In a hastily called press conference hours before the four men were presented to the media, Ms Arroyo lauded the military and police for the "consistent success in the antiterrorism campaign." In a speech at the oath-taking of 47 generals immediately preceding the press conference, she ordered the launch of "preemptive strikes" to prevent "borderless" terror groups from inflicting harm and sowing mayhem. "It is time to bring the issue to a higher plane of preemptive security," the President told the generals, including Gen. Efren Abu, the Armed Forces chief of staff, who now has four stars. The oath-taking was coupled with the presentation of Metrobank's The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers 2004 in Malacañang's Rizal Hall. According to the President, "the perimeters of vigilance must be strengthened by stronger laws to identify, pinpoint and expose terrorists and to enable authorities to neutralize terrorist conspiracies before they can strike." She said public safety was a component of economic progress as much as political stability. "Our efforts to ensure national security goes hand-in-hand with the efforts designed to grow the economy and mop up the recruiting grounds of terrorists and lawless elements," she added. Malacañang wants an Internal Security Act to contain terrorism, including the establishment of a national identification system. The President congratulated the uniformed services "for their string of successes in the past few days and weeks." She particularly commended the Intelligence Service of the AFP for the information that led to the arrests. At Camp Aguinaldo, Lt. Gen. Allan Cabalquinto, chief of the AFP's National Region Command (NCRCom), told reporters that some 10 more members of the Abu Sayyaf were "lying low" in Metro Manila and being tracked by security forces. "It's not a big force but we are closely watching, monitoring, their possible hiding places," he said. "We cannot discount suspicion that they are up [to something]." Cabalquinto assured the public that there was no immediate threat of a terrorist attack in Metro Manila. "... But our chokepoints and checkpoints and walk-the-beat patrols are continuing, especially at night," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 Reused. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-02-25 6:26:18 PM |
| #7 Hmmm, these guys might need to get talent agents pretty soon. |
| Posted by: radrh8r 2005-02-25 6:22:08 PM |
| #6 Manure. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2005-02-25 4:14:00 PM |
| #5 Reduced. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-02-25 4:02:03 PM |
| #4 Worm-food |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-02-25 3:41:16 PM |
| #3 Compost |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-02-25 12:59:31 PM |
| #2 Mulched? |
| Posted by: Fred 2005-02-25 12:49:37 PM |
| #1 "Recycled"? Soylent Green comes to the Philippines? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-02-25 10:13:49 AM |