However, Virgilio Cariño has not been charged before the prosecutor’s office or the court for the Abu Sayyaf-led terrorist attack in the cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos.
Police linked him to the Valentine’s Day bombings based on intelligence reports.
Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, Philippine National Police intelligence chief, said Cariño — alias Muslim, Abdul, Boljiak and Lakay — was arrested at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan on the strength of two warrants of arrest issued by two different courts in Tarlac.
"Cariño was arrested for murder, and he has a standing warrant of arrest for illegal possession of firearms issued by Camiling, Tarlac Judge Afable Cajigal," Rafanan said.
Cariño, a suspected member of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) which was linked to the terrorist attack in Makati, was also ordered arrested by Tarlac Judge Domingo Joaquin for murder, Rafanan said.
However, Cariño’s wife, Mercy, said he was snatched at the Greenhills Shopping Center by men in civilian clothes who refused to identify themselves.
"We have a stall in Greenhills Shopping Center," she said in a radio interview. "He has nothing to do with any bombing activities."
Cariño has no affiliation with any criminal group, Mercy said.
In response, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said the arrest was a legitimate operation conducted by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by a judge in Tarlac.
Military sources said Cariño is a prime suspect in the murder several months ago of Romeo Dunca, a barangay councilor in Capas, Tarlac.
"He is now under the custody of the Philippine National Police," the military source.
Cariño was arrested in a parking lot fronting a fast-food chain in Greenhills Shopping Center, where he and his wife have a stall that sells wares.
He has been taken to Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Padilla visited Cariño, who is his mother’s brother, at Camp Crame yesterday morning.
Police said Padilla has nothing to do with the alleged criminal activities of his uncle.
"It so happens that he is a relative of Cariño," an intelligence officer said.
Military and police authorities have linked the RSM to the Valentine’s Day bombings in the cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos City, in which eight people were killed and scores of others injured.
Anti-terror agents also linked the RSM to a foiled Lenten Day bomb attack on a nightclub in Ermita, Manila following the arrest of Dawud Santos and the seizure of a cache of explosives in Quezon City.
Dawud is believed to be the No. 2 man in the RSM, while his brother Hilarion del Rosario Santos is the group’s leader.
In April last year, anti-terrorist agents arrested Padilla’s driver-bodyguard, Abdulwali Villanueva, while reportedly plotting bombings in Metro Manila.
Padilla converted to Islam in the mid-’90s while serving time for illegal possession of firearms at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jaime Laude