CIDG mulls raps vs suspected military agent in kidnapping of ABS-CBN crew

MANILA, Philippines – The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) might include Juamil “Mameng” Biyaw in the charges of kidnapping for ransom of an ABS-CBN news team and a Mindanao professor after both broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and Prof. Octavio Dinampo maintained that the suspected military agent was involved in the crime.

“We are studying the statements of Drilon and Dinampo on the participation of Biyaw in the kidnapping of the news team and Dinampo. Both Drilon and Dinampo insisted that Biyaw should also be charged,” a source said.

So far, police have filed charges of kidnapping for ransom against Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider; Sulayman Pattah, alias Abu Harris; Walid alias Tuan Wals; and several others who were identified through their aliases as Seding; Amrin; Adzker; Bas; Bakrin; Rihim; James; and Tawing.

Three other suspects remain unidentified.

Only the Isnajis are detained at the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

A panel from the Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting preliminary investigation on the case to determine if there is probable cause to warrant the filing of the case in court for trial.

CIDG director Chief Superintendent Raul Castañeda said Biyaw is considered a witness and not a state witness.

Under the law, an individual who is charged for a crime can be considered a state witness or testify against his cohorts if he is the least guilty among the group.

Biyaw has issued a statement implicating the Isnajis in the kidnapping of Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and Dinampo.

Drilon said she believed Biyaw should also be charged for their kidnapping last June 8 in Sulu because he was the one who betrayed them.

In his affidavit, Dinampo said Biyaw should have been treated as a co-conspirator in the kidnapping.

“Mameng knew that the group of Abu Sayyaf Group leader Radullan Sahiron had long planned to abduct or kidnap us and to release us only upon payment of ransom,” said Dinampo.

“Mameng should be included and charged as one of the respondents as he is equally guilty with the rest of our abductors and it would be highly questionable if he is only treated as a state witness that would lead to inescapable conclusion of his being privileged and favored by the authorities who are called to render justice for all,” he added.

Dinampo said Biyaw himself admitted that most of the kidnappers were his relatives and he knew of their plan to interview Sahiron four months before the abduction.

“Biyaw was the person who brought us to danger and delivered us to the hands of our captors… they (the Isnajis) had been unfairly and baselessly implicated and charged as masterminds/participants in the kidnapping, when on the contrary they should be commended for helping secure our safety and release from the hands of our abductors,” Dinampo further said.

Drilon and investigators of the CIDG were surprised to learn that Dinampo would testify for the Isnajis, who were accused by the police of pocketing P3 million of the P5-million ransom money. Only P2 million was reportedly given to the kidnappers.

Police are also investigating reports that a total of P20 million in ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

Victim of harassment

Meantime, Dinampo said it was his continued refusal to agree with what authorities want him to do to pin down Mayor Isnaji and his son Haider for their kidnapping, that led him to become a suspect as well.

“It is because I refuse to dance to the tune that they want me to dance and now, they are accusing me as a suspect of the kidnapping wherein I myself was a victim,” said Dinampo, who is also the founding chair of the tri-peoples Mindanao Peace Caucus and one of the leaders of the Mindanao Peaceweavers Organization and the Peace Advocates Zamboanga.

He stressed that authorities should understand that he did not refuse to cooperate.

“I cooperated with authorities right from the very start. I filed my affidavits and even my supplemental affidavits. And I am just saying something I fully know well and nothing else. I have no knowledge about the Isnajis being involved in the kidnapping, so I cannot I pin them down,” he said.

Dinampo said that he has always been a “victim.”

“First, I was a victim of kidnapping by the terrorists but now I am a victim of harassment by the law enforcers who are filing the kidnapping case against the Isnajis,” he explained.

But Dinampo expressed confidence his accusers would not be able to prove that he was also behind the kidnapping.

The STAR talked to Dinampo in a phone interview while he was awaiting his flight for Uganda yesterday afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. – Cecile Suerte Felipe, Edith Regalado