"With the time that has lapsed (since Al-Ghozi escaped from jail in Camp Crame in Quezon City Monday), it’s possible he must have already gotten out of Metro Manila," he said over ABS-CBN television.
"(However), we will still assume the worst-case scenario that he’s still around and that he is trying to contact people who have been used by him before to perpetrate some actions," he said.
Velasco said he would be meeting with Muslim religious and community leaders to seek their help in tracking down Al-Ghozi, who is believed to be the most senior JI member to have been in police custody.
Velasco said security measures are in place in Metro Manila to thwart any attempt by Al-Ghozi and his gang to launch retaliatory attacks.
Police are guarding vital installations like seaports, airports, bus terminals, the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit stations, oil depots, communications facilities, embassies and shopping malls, he added.
Velasco said the Metro Manila police is distributing mug shots of Al-Ghozi and the two other escapees, Abu Sayyaf members Abdul Mukim Edris and Merang Abante.
Velasco said the 23,000 barangay tanods and 160,000 security guards will help police in the metro-wide manhunt for Al-Ghozi and the other fugitives.
Superintendent Miguel Laurel will lead police in gathering intelligence information to pinpoint their whereabouts, he added.
In Central Mindanao, Islamic religious leaders warned the government yesterday that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) might give sanctuary to Al-Ghozi and the other escaped terrorists.
"That’s not a remote possibility," said a prominent Imam in Maguindanao, who asked not to be named. "We are aware that the Rizal Day bombings in Manila (in 2000) were pulled off by Al-Ghozi and Muklis Yunos in retaliation for the government’s capture of Camp Abubakar six months earlier."
A foreign-trained Islamic theologian said rebel forces in Mindanao would surely welcome Al-Ghozi in their camps because he could train them in the handling of explosives.
Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they have intensified surveillance of key entry and exit points in secluded rebel camps at the request of Islamic religious leaders.
The 6th ID has deployed more than 200 plainclothesmen in seaports and airports in Central Mindanao as part of the effort to prevent Al-Ghozi from seeking refuge in the region, he added.
Police sources in General Santos said Indonesian communities in Sarangani province are being monitored as Al-Ghozi could hide in one of them
Two provincial governors in Central Mindanao warned yesterday they will use an iron fist against people who would give refuge to Al-Ghozi.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, known for his hardline policy in dealing with the MILF, said police in towns surrounding guerrilla enclaves in his province have been ordered to tighten security at all entry and exit points.
Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, chairman of the peace and order council in his province, said he is ready to shell out "earnest money" to anyone who could help arrest Al-Ghozi.
The Philippines has asked Indonesia and Malaysia to help find the JI fugitive, who was serving a prison term for possession of explosives and was facing separate charges over the Rizal Day bombings.
Other JI suspects are on trial in Indonesia for the Bali terror blasts that claimed 202 lives last year.
The group supposedly wants to set up an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. – With John Unson, AFP