‘Basilan governor to be linked to Abu ransom

Two Basilan residents will link the governor of the province, Wahab Akbar, to the alleged payment to the Abu Sayyaf of ransom by construction magnate Reghis Romero II, the chairman of the House defense committee said yesterday.

The committee is inquiring into allegations that the Abu Sayyaf paid some military officers huge sums last June 2, when the bandits slipped through a military dragnet. It was on the same day that Romero and his Dos Palmas lady companion, Rhiza Rodriguez, escaped from their Abu Sayyaf captors.

Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. (Lakas, Surigao del Sur), committee chairman, told reporters yesterday that the two Basilan residents, whom the bandits held hostage together with the Dos Palmas group, will testify that Akbar "was involved in the pay-off that led to the release of Romero and his friend."

"They claim that they were there, that they saw money, lots of it, change hands," he said.

Akbar, for his part, told ABS-CBN he is ready to face any investigation and vowed to press charges against his accusers if their allegations are proven wrong.

Pichay said the two attended his panel’s hearings in Lamitan over the weekend but did not testify because they feared for their lives.

"They are now here in Manila and will appear before the committee this week," he added.

Akbar was conspicuously absent during the two-day Lamitan hearings. In the past, he has denied his supposed involvement in Abu payoffs.

The defense committee has summoned Romero and Rodriguez to its next hearing, which Pichay said will be scheduled as soon as the two are available.

A committee member, who did not want to be identified, told The STAR yesterday that he received reliable information that "Romero is now ready to tell the truth – that he indeed paid ransom for his and his companion’s release."

Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) said the testimonies of the two former Abu Sayyaf hostages will provide the committee a clearer picture of what really happened in Lamitan on June 2.

"They are the missing pieces in the puzzle," he said.

He said he would not take it against the construction magnate if he indeed resorted to "some creative ways to secure his freedom."

He also said the committee, during its Basilan hearings, received information that some local officials were acting as ransom negotiators, facilitators and couriers for the Abu Sayyaf.

Military officers have denied that they were paid to allow the bandits to escape when troops surrounded them in Lamitan on June 2.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said yesterday the testimonies of rescued hostages at Lamitan town in Basilan before a congressional inquiry will help clear the military of charges that it has been conniving with the Abu Sayyaf.

Adan said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) welcomed reports that the House defense committee is set to summon Romero and Rodriguez to shed light on reports that millions of pesos changed hands before they escaped from the Abu Sayyaf.

"Perhaps they could shed light and complement the statements of Brig. Gen. (Romeo) Dominguez that no money has been paid to the military to allow them to escape," Adan said in a press briefing.

"There have been reports that ransom has been paid but it’s difficult for the military to confirm this," he said, referring to the alleged payment of ransom by Romero to his captors at the height of the battle in Lamitan between the bandits and government forces last June 2.

Romero, Rodriguez and an eight-year-old boy, who was also freed at Lamitan, were among the 20 hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf from Dos Palmas island resort in Palawan last May 27.

The Senate and House committees on national defense have been conducting their respective investigations into the allegations of Lamitan parish priest Cirilo Nacorda that some military officials connived with the Abu Sayyaf, allowing the latter to escape Lamitan with new hostages.

Adan thanked both committees for their fairness and objectivity in their conduct of the hearings even if it was very hard to recreate what really transpired at Lamitan.

"It’s difficult to point what had happened. It’s difficult to recreate a battle without the sound of gunfire and dead bodies," Adan said.

"Some congressmen also appear not to be familiar with military operations but we cannot blame them, they’re politicians or civilians," he said.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said the investigation so far has been favorable to the military.

"It is only the reports of some observers that is putting us in an unfavorable light," Villanueva said in a radio interview.

Teacher snatched in Sumisip

A female teacher was snatched and used as "human shield" by fleeing Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sumisip town, Basilan to slow down advancing Marines.

Minutes earlier, the Marines killed an Abu Sayyaf commander when they clashed with the bandits Saturday in a nearby town.

Army Col. Hermogenes Esperon, commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade and chief of Task Force Thunder, said Doria Jainul was taken after the bandits strafed a jeepney, killing six people and wounding 10 others in Barangay Calang Canas at about 2 p.m.

"They are trying to divert the troops’ attention by attacking innocent villagers," he said. "And this is usually done by the bandits employing the guerrilla type of warfare."

Most of the wounded were Islamic religious leaders and residents of various barangays in Sumisip, he added.

Col. Renato Miranda, commander of the 2nd Marine Battalion Landing Team and chief of Task Force Tornado, said Commander Abdullah Malangka was killed after troops from the 21st Marine Company encountered his band in Barangay Upper Gulong, Sumisip.

Miranda said the Marines recovered along with Malangka’s body an Armalite rifle and six loaded magazines that had been joined together with masking tape to make them longer.

Many of Malangka’s men had been wounded in the running gunbattle, he added.

In Catbalogan, Samar, Brig. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, accused yesterday Fr. Cirilo Nacorda, parish priest of St. Peter’s Church in Basilan, of arranging a meeting between Abu Sayyaf leaders and the families of former hostages for the payment of ransom.

Earlier, Nacorda accused Dominguez of colluding with the Abu Sayyaf for a fee to allow the bandits to escape a military dragnet thrown around St. Peter’s Church and the nearby Dr. Jose Ma. Torres Hospital in Lamitan, Basilan, where they were holed out with their hostages last June 2.– With Paolo Romero, Roel Pareño, Ricky Bautista, Sandy Araneta