Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deputy chief Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan said 25-year-old Rohmat, alias Zaki, confirmed during interrogation that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani is alive and well, belying earlier claims by the military that he was among those killed in an air strike last November.
Under questioning, Rohmat claimed Janjalani and Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman gave the order to carry out the Feb. 14 bomb attacks that struck the cities of Makati, General Santos and Davao within hours of each other, the military said.
A handcuffed Rohmat was presented to the media by the military yesterday but was not allowed to speak with reporters.
Adan said soldiers arrested Rohmat after he was found carrying a caliber .45 automatic at a checkpoint along Marcos Highway in the outskirts of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on March 16.
Maj. Gen. Samuel Bagasin, Army 4th Infantry Division commander, said Rohmat was riding tandem on a motorcycle driven by one Makmod Maldo.
Rohmat’s true identity was uncovered after he was unable to speak any local dialect during questioning by soldiers and immigration officers manning the checkpoint.
Rohmat was taken in for interrogation while Maldo was released "for lack of evidence," the military said.
Rohmat broke down during interrogation, admitting that he acted as a conduit for Janjalani and Solaiman.
He claimed he had been present when the two bandit leaders gave the order to carry out the Feb. 14 bombings.
The near-simultaneous Valentine’s Day bombings rocked Makati, General Santos and Davao cities, killing 13 people and wounding more than 100 others.
However, Adan said, authorities are not taking Rohmat’s confessions "hook, line and sinker."
"We have to counter-check all his (Rohmat’s) revelations first," Adan said. He would not elaborate on the claims about Janjalani.
The military had earlier announced that ranking Abu Sayyaf leaders and some JI militants were killed during air strikes at a suspected terrorist hideout in the Butilen marshlands of Central Mindanao.
"We will continue to work with our neighbors in seeing to it that the threat is contained," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
Malacañang communications director Silvestre Afable Jr. said the capture of Rohmat was the result of good intelligence operation.
Afable added more suspects could have been arrested "if we had an anti-terrorism law."
The military claimed Rohmat had trained the captured Abu Sayyaf bandits who have already confessed their participation in the bombings.
Rohmat acted as a liaison for JI in the Philippines in training local extremists in the use of car bombs and explosives, the military said.
Security officials stressed Rohmat’s arrest provided further insight into a close working relationship between the JI and the Abu Sayyaf — two of Southeast Asia’s most dangerous terrorist organizations.
Rohmat’s arrest likewise raised the possibility that Janjalani is still alive and personally overseeing terror operations in the country.
Following the Butilen air strike, Janjalani left Central Mindanao for Tawi-Tawi in an attempt to escape to Malaysia.
The Abu Sayyaf chieftain, however, was forced back to Central Mindanao where he was nearly captured by the military in Tawi-Tawi.
Both Janjalani and Solaiman carry a P5-million reward for their arrest.
Rohmat revealed to the military that some members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)’s 105th Base Command in Central Mindanao have been providing safe haven to the two bandit leaders.
Rohmat arrived in the country five years ago and was sent for training to a JI terror training camp somewhere in the dense jungles of Central Mindanao together with 20 other militants.
Adan said Rohmat slipped into the country and trained MILF fighters at Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao in 2000.
When Camp Abubakar was overrun by government forces the same year, Rohmat moved to Camp Jabal Quba in Butig, Lanao del Sur.
It was there that Rohmat later became an instructor for the Abu Sayyaf, Adan said.
Immigration officials added Rohmat is not included in their watch list of known terrorists but his name had repeatedly cropped up in their intelligence reports.
Immigration chief Alipio Fernandez revealed Rohmat had graduated valedictorian in the JI training course in Indonesia before being assigned to train extremists in the Philippines.
Fernandez confirmed Rohmat was able to slip into the country in 2000 through the southern backdoor by passing himself off as a Filipino.
Immigration officer Winnie Quidato added a mission order has been issued for the arrest of Rohmat for entering the country as an illegal alien.
"All that we know about him for now is that he entered the country via the southern backdoor in 2000," Quidato said.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan said Rohmat personally trained two of the seven terrorists now being hunted by security forces for plotting a bombing mission in Metro Manila during Holy Week.
Military intelligence officials added Rohmat was a student of Indonesian Taufiq Rifki who was arrested two years ago in the country on charges of handling finances for JI operations here.
The military said Rohmat became an instructor in the terror camps in Mindanao. In 2003, he was sent by Zulkifli, the top regional terror suspect arrested in Malaysia two years ago, to Jolo to train Abu Sayyaf bandits there for three months.
Following the training, Rohmat acted as Zulkifli’s liaison, staying with Janjalani "wherever the group went until his capture," the military said.
Intelligence officials revealed Rohmat had trained the Abu Sayyaf in bomb making, particularly the use of cellular phones to trigger homemade explosives.
The explosive devices used in the Feb. 14 bombings were all triggered by cellular phones, police had found.
Officials said on Monday that three JI operatives are suspected of plotting with the Abu Sayyaf to launch bomb attacks during this week’s Easter holiday.
A recent intelligence report said the JI gave Abu Sayyaf militants at least $18,500 last year for explosives training.
The JI has been blamed for the August 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, which killed 12 people, and the October 2002 bombings on Bali island that killed 202, mostly foreign tourists.
Security forces have boosted patrols of shopping malls, churches and other crowded places to thwart reported bombing plots threatened by the Abu Sayyaf as revenge for the deaths of 22 suspected Abu Sayyaf members killed by police in a botched jailbreak last week. Among those killed were three prominent bandit leaders.
The military’s National Capital Regional Command (NCRCom) chief Lt. Gen. Alan Cabalquinto called on the public to go about its daily routine as authorities are now on top of the situation.
Cabalquinto revealed two suspected terror cells in Metro Manila are now being monitored.
Cabalquinto claimed the two terror cells are being maintained by the JI through the Abu Sayyaf "sleepers" who are tasked to remain in Metro Manila and carry out their mission unless ordered by their leaders to leave.
"They’ve become territorial. They will stay in the places where they were tasked to operate. So it is not surprising that the two cells which were formerly monitored to be operating in Metro Manila are still here," Cabalquinto said.
Malacañang, for its part, reiterated the government’s anti-terrorism campaign does not include discrimination against Muslims.
"Religious faith is never an issue in our campaign against terrorism," Bunye said. "This (anti-terrorism campaign) is a matter of enforcing the rule of law amongst all, regardless of creed, ethnic origin or social station."
Bunye said the President shares the vision of Christian and Muslim leaders working for peaceful coexistence and shared ideals.
He said the country has to deal with "the bad eggs hiding under the cloak of religion to foment terrorist goals."
Bunye made the statement after some Muslim leaders complained that the police and military have been staging indiscriminate raids and arrests in their community. — With reports from Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Mike Frialde, AFP