Military downplays Sayyaf threat on Americans

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The military downplayed yesterday an Abu Sayyaf threat that it would strike at Americans in the country as police arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf member during a raid on a disco house here.

Lt. Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, commander of the Army’s Civil Relations Group, said the announcement on radio of new Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sulaiman shows that the bandit group is losing its strength.

"It’s part of their propaganda to gain sympathy from the innocent people they have terrorized," he said. "That only shows they are disintegrated and that Sulaiman is trying to boost their withered forces."

On the contrary, Covarrubias said Sulaiman would meet the same tragic end as that of Abu Sabaya if he will not stop talking.

"The (Abu Sayyaf) threat cannot affect the program of the national government in Basilan, that is to uplift the plight of the villagers from poverty, the root cause of terrorism," he said.

Sabaya was reportedly killed last June 21 during a firefight with Navy commandos and Marines in Mantibu Point, a kilometer off the coast of Sibuco town in Zamboanga del Norte.

Chief Inspector Jose Bayani Gucela, a Zamboanga City police official, said Sonnei Jainuddin, 24, was arrested after the discotheque’s security guard informed police that he was carrying a gun with a defaced serial number.

The guard noticed that Jainuddin’s .38 caliber revolver had a defaced serial number after he deposited it for safekeeping at the discotheque’s information desk, he added.

Gucela said police are still waiting for information from Basilan to determine if Jainuddin is really a member of the Abu Sayyaf so they can pin him down.

Quoting intelligence sources, Gucela said Jainuddin was involved in a spate of kidnappings and other criminal activities in Basilan.

Police will charge Jainuddin, who is detained at the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center, with illegal possession of firearms, he added.

At Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Hector Janjalani, brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, and co-accused Muhammad Amin Ajijon pleaded "not guilty" Thursday before Pasig City Regional Trial Court Judge Leila Acebu to charges of kidnapping American Jeffrey Schilling nearly two years ago.

The two have been detained at Camp Bagong Diwa since their arrest last year.

Apart from Hector Janjalani and Ajijon, also charged in Schilling’s kidnapping case were Khadaffy Janjalani, Aldam Tilao – alias Abu Sabaya – Hamsiraji Sali, and several others who are all at large, except for Sabaya who is believed to have been killed.

Speaking over dxRZ Radio Mindanao Network, Sulaiman warned that Americans "sooner or later, may Allah will it that you will get His punishment through us" so they may be brought back to their senses.

"Let us assure you disbelievers in the nature of all creations, that all things you hold dear in this world, your lives and your properties are unsafe from us, for what is dear to you we gladly dedicate for the sake of our creator so that there may be true peace and justice in the real sense of this world," he said.

Sulaiman also warned the Japanese for collaborating with the Americans in their operation since most US troops deployed in Basilan and Zamboanga City had come from Okinawa. – Roel Pareño, Nikko Dizon, AFP