MILF must pay for Metro bombings, defense chief says

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should be made to pay for the five Rizal Day bombings that have so far killed 22 people and wounded scores of others, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said yesterday.

Mercado made the statement as the military intensified its operations against the MILF in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte on Sunday morning.

"We really have not stopped our military offensive against them (the MILF) because of their armed efforts to re-establish their camps which we’ve dismantled," Mercado said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been continually pursuing MILF rebels since government troops overran 46 major and satellite camps last year, he said.

"What’s happening is not much different from the recent fighting. It’s just that the media do not notice them (the encounters)," he added.

But since the MILF was tagged as the culprits in the Rizal Day bombings, the MILF intensified attacks on AFP detachments in Mindanao.

The police last week blamed the MILF for the bombings and asked authorities to charge MILF leaders Hashim Salamat, Mohammad Al-Hadj Murad, Ghadzali Jaafar and four other MILF members.

However, police have only one suspect, identified as Ismail Abbas, in custody.

The Department of Justice yesterday found probable cause and filed charges of multiple murder and multiple frustration murder against the seven MILF members.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied involvement in the bombings but added that the MILF will intensify its counter-offensives against the military.

"We cannot just watch things happen. We have to institute defense and adopt appropriate measures against any military attack. They’re trying to create a situation now linking us to international terrorism," Kabalu said.

He maintained the MILF had nothing to do with the bombings, adding it was unfortunate that Malacañang had to suspend peace negotiations with the separatists.

But police insist that the evidence they have at hand "positively link" the MILF and Abbas to the bombings.

PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson said police have evidence to link Abbas with the car that was used in the explosion near a cargo warehouse at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Parañaque City.

"The car used in the NAIA cargo blast was traced to Abbas and the other suspects during investigation. Even members of the Army intelligence group were able to capture video-footages of three suspects," Lacson said.

He said the PNP will also be coordinating with the Indonesian police to compare bombing debris recovered from the local blasts and those from the bombings of churches in Indonesia.

Both Philippine and Indonesian police are investigating claims that the bombers in Indonesia and the Philippines underwent training at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan.

A report furnished by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) to reporters revealed that the Intelligence Security Group of the Philippine Army was able to take a photograph of the red 1978 Mitsubishi Lancer with license plate EAE-199, the vehicle used in the NAIA blast.

The same car was also photographed during a previous operation against suspected MILF members operating in Metro Manila, the report said.

Police arrested Abbas in front of his home in Pasig City on Jan. 4 and has been detained at the PAOCTF headquarters.

Meanwhile, the Quezon City Prosecutors Office yesterday ordered the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) to release the four Muslims arrested during a raid on Muslim community in Quezon City on Thursday.

The men were arrested together with 16 other residents of the Muslim Compound in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City in connection with the Rizal Day bombings.

Ordered to be released were Romano Salik, Akas Edzel, Munir Sulaiman and Misuari Panayaman, all residents of 113 Cotabato Street, Moslem Compound, Barangay Culiat, Tandang Sora, Quezon City. – With reports from Non Alquitran, Allen Estabillo, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Pia Lee-Brago, Delon Porcalla, Benjie Villa, Edith Regalado, Roel Pareño