GMA to visit W. Mindanao next week

President Arroyo is to fly to the southern Philippines next week to check on progress in the manhunt for fugitive Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomber Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, officials said yesterday.

Mrs. Arroyo is to visit first on Monday the southern island of Jolo, a stronghold of the Muslim Abu Sayyaf gunmen, before heading to the remote town of Tungawan in the Zamboanga peninsula, where al-Ghozi is believed to be hiding with the help of local militants.

"She will visit (Jolo) and Tungawan, which (the president) described as a ‘no-man’s land’, for the Al-Ghozi operations," presidential adviser Eduardo Ermita said.

Mrs. Arroyo in a statement Thursday said the manhunt for the Indonesian militant was not connected to the upcoming visit here next month of US President George W. Bush.

Mrs. Arroyo is a staunch supporter of the Bush government’s war on terrorism, and Washington has been helping the Philippines crush the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of Islamic militants linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

The JI is believed to be the Southeast Asian arm of al-Qaeda, blamed for the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people last October.

"Al-Ghozi is an isolated tactical target and his capture has nothing to do with the Bush visit," Mrs. Arroyo said. "The government is hot on the heels of Al-Ghozi and we will get him in due time."

Al-Ghozi, along with two Abu Sayyaf militants, escaped from a jail inside the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City last July 14.

The US government and Australia, another key anti-terror ally, had earlier criticized Manila for the escape.

One of the Abu Sayyaf militants who escaped with Al-Ghozi, Abdulmukim Ong Edris, was hunted down and killed near the Zamboanga peninsula last month, and military and police officials said they believe Al-Ghozi was still somewhere in the area.

Al-Ghozi was serving a 17-year jail term for explosives possession when he escaped. He has also been separately charged along with JI operations chief Hambali for a spate of bombings in Manila in 2000.

Hambali, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, is now in US custody after he was arrested in Thailand last month. – AFP, Marichu Villanueva