AFP: We’ve got the right guy

The military asserted yesterday that one of three men arrested on Wednesday in Cotabato City was the real Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, principal suspect in last month’s bomb attack in General Santos City that killed 15 people and wounded 50 others.

This developed as President Arroyo directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to get their act together as anti-terrorist operations intensify in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said he has recommended the filing of charges of illegal possession of firearms against Junior "JR" Jikiron, alias Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, 35, and his three cohorts identified as Arman Amerodin, 16; his brother Jayhan, 15; and Khalid Mapandi, 17.

Kyamko’s unit turned over the suspects to the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), which will file the formal charges.

"Our intelligence units are now helping the CIDG build up a strong case against them for their alleged involvement in the bombings and arson attacks in General Santos City because it would be more difficult to pursue," Kyamko said.

To reinforce his claim that they got the right guy, Kyamko said the cellular phone and automated teller machine cards seized from the suspects would be used as evidence for the prosecution.

The mobile phone numbers matched those registered in the caller identification devices of some businessmen in General Santos City who fell prey to the group’s extortion activities.

More than a dozen of the traders confirmed that the account numbers in the ATM cards seized from the suspects were also identical to the bank accounts where they deposited "protection money."

Kyamko said earlier Jikiron had admitted having strong links with the Abu Sayyaf hierarchy, notably the terror group’s acknowledged chieftain, Khadafy Janjalani.

Jikiron and his aides were captured by a combined military-police elite unit on Wednesday afternoon in Cotabato City while the suspects were withdrawing money from a bank.

But Central Mindanao police director Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot insisted that Jikiron is not the "real Al-Ghazie" wanted by the authorities for the terrorist attacks in General Santos.

Baluyot claimed that Abdulatip Adsoy Paglala, who eluded arrest when policemen raided the suspect’s house in Tacurong City on Wednesday, was the "true Al-Ghazie."

Sources in Tacurong said Paglala, also known as Commander Roldan and Rizal Kitango, hailed from the second district of Maguindanao.

Authorities said the man who called up a radio station in General Santos to own up to the bombing as well as the torching of two large department stores in the city, spoke with a heavy Tausug accent.

A military intelligence officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said among those who interrogated Jikiron were Tausug soldiers who said the suspected mastermind was fluent in the Tausug dialect.

"They are trying to mislead us. If we get one of them, somebody claims that he is Abu Muslim trying to mislead the authorities," said Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, commander of the AFP’s Southern Command.

"But in the next several days, we will be able to untangle this confusion and who knows, we already got the real one," Cimatu said.

In a related development, Central Mindanao’s religious and political leaders slammed Baluyot for driving a wedge between the military and the police in the anti-terror operations in Mindanao.

"Instead of feeling proud that the government has triumphed once more in its fight against terrorism, the police command in Region 12 is unduly creating a situation that can project an impression that the police in this part of the country are indeed remiss in their duties," said a 40-year-old Catholic missionary.

‘Get your act together,’ GMA tells PNP, AFP

Apparently displeased by the reported row between the police and the military over the Al-Ghazie controversy, the President ordered the two organizations to come up with a scheme on closer coordination and collaboration in their drive against terror groups.

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said Mrs. Arroyo directed Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina to develop a "united system" that will combine the resources of the police and the military in solving the bombing incident in General Santos.

Asked which of the two organizations could be right, Afable said the Palace has not formed any opinion. "As far as that incident is concerned, we still do not know. The facts are not clear. There is some kind of tactical confusion there which is attendant to situations where law enforcement agencies are acting with speed and urgency. So these things happen."

In a bid to settle their differences, spokesmen for the PNP and the AFP came out with a joint statement on the Abu Muslim al-Ghazie debate.

"It is now apparent that there had been several copycats of Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, purposed to mislead investigators or further pursue the lucrative scheme of criminal extortion," said PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina.

For his part, AFP information officer Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said the "counter-productive tendency of some quarters to drive a wedge between the military and the police establishments will only distract the focus of the PNP and the AFP, and unduly affect the momentum of ongoing joint operations in the field."

The two officials said their respective organizations were validating evidence on Al-Ghazie.

Espina added that both organizations were out "to get a common enemy," referring to Paglala as another possible suspect in the bombing in General Santos.

"We have been comparing notes with the AFP. The real Al-Ghazie is being determined per dossier of the AFP. We strongly believe that Jikiron is Abu Muslim," Espina added.

"We have on our part received intelligence information that Abdulatip Paglala is also known to be Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, but in due time we will be able to determine who the real Abu Muslim al-Ghazie is," he added.

Citing AFP files, Mabanta said there is no Abu Muslim al-Ghazie in the military’s order of battle. "We think that it may really be a code-name or an alias used by several persons."

Espina said police investigators were examining a typewriter seized from one of their raids in General Santos to determine if it was the same typewriter used by extortionists in Mindanao in writing demand letters to their prospective victims.

Espina said they are taking seriously the call to a radio station in Mindanao by a man who introduced himself as Abu Muslim al-Ghazie to admit responsibility for the bomb attack and setting on fire the two establishments.

"We believe that he (Jikiron) was the one using the code-name Al-Ghazie, the one who called up the radio station. We have some evidence," Mabanta said.

Last Thursday, Paglala, who also claimed to be Al-Ghazie, taunted the military for announcing his arrest and warned of more attacks. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez