‘I have nothing to do with the Abu Sayyaf’

DAVAO CITY — Forty-seven-year-old Ustadzh Ali Adzaman was in complete shock when his children and neighbors at the Ma-a Riverside Village here told him last Wednesday night that his picture appeared in a gallery of nine suspected Abu Sayyaf members supposedly out to wreak havoc in Metro Manila.

Produced by the newly formed National Anti-Terrorism Task Force, the photo gallery of supposed members of the Abu Sayyaf’s Special Operations Group (SOG), was flashed on all primetime TV news programs that night and was carried by a number of national newspapers the following day.

The Abu Sayyaf’s SOG members were said to be explosives experts and were trained in the Lanao provinces by Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesia-based terrorist group with links to the al-Qaeda global network of Osama bin Laden.

"Hindi ako makapaniwala dahil hindi naman talaga totoo yon. Wala akong kinalaman doon. Hindi po ako Abu Sayyaf member (I could not believe it because it’s not really true. I have nothing to do with it. I’m not an Abu Sayyaf member)," Adzaman told The STAR shortly before he was turned over Thursday night to the intelligence unit of the city police.

"If I’m guilty, do you think I would come out in the open?" Adzaman, a father of seven, asked in the Visayan dialect. "I’m trying hard to make a decent living because I do not want my children to be like me who lacks education."

Fearing for his life, Adzaman immediately sought the help of lawyer Cesar Dataya, a City Hall official, who, in turn, presented him to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte Thursday afternoon.

It was Duterte who advised that Adzaman be turned over to the proper authorities so he could clear his name.

According to Adzaman, he is a plain trader of cultured mushrooms at the Bankerohan public market here and a Madrasah teacher on Saturdays and Sundays in their community in Ma-a Riverside.

He added that he has also been a part of the City Hall’s Project HOPE day care program that has incorporated Arabic school learning since 1985.

Adzaman also denied any links to either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or the Moro National Liberation Front.

"I do not have any outstanding warrant of arrest. I have never been arrested and I have no criminal records whatsoever. I do not know why my picture was there," he said.

Adzaman also wondered how he could be accused of plotting to launch terror attacks in Metro Manila when the last and only time he was there was in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He said he seldom travels outside of Davao City.

He said his picture in the gallery was taken way back in 1985 and that he gave it to two friends when he sought military protection after the twin bombings that rocked this city last year. He, however, said he had nothing to do with the blasts.

Adzaman suspected the only possibility his photo, that was taken way back in 1985, could have found its way to the ‘wanted gallery’ was that he was able to give it to two friends in his effort to get some sort of a protection from a military intelligence unit after the twin bombings that struck Davao City last year and left 39 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

But Adzaman clearly pointed out also that he had nothing to do with the Davao bombings. "I was not involved in any of those bombings," he said.

After the second bombing that ripped through the gate of the Sasa wharf passenger terminal, authorities were rather hot on the trail against members of the city’s Muslim community who were suspected to have perpetrated the dastardly acts.

"The problem started after the wharf bombing. Sabi nila basta Muslim delikado maglakad kahit saan (They said if you’re a Muslim, it would be dangerous for you to be walking around anywhere.) That was why I approached a trusted Muslim friend who was my neighbor and I told him about the problem and that I would want to secure an ID that would make me an agent of an intelligence unit. He also passed me on to another Muslim who was also my friend and recommended me to a certain Major or Col. Palabrica,"he said.

Adzaman claimed his second friend brought two agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of Philippines (ISAFP) here, to his house sometime May last year and that he was asked to submit a 2x2 photo and bio-data. He said he was only able to submit the said photo and bio-data at the Bankerohan public market the following day .

"I waited for my ID of that intelligence unit after I submitted the requirements. But until now, wala pa rin. I was assured I would get my ID once it would be signed by Palabrica. Pero, until now, wala pa rin. And what I got instead was my being included in the wanted list," he told The STAR.

Habiba, Adzaman’s 46-year old wife, likewise attested her husband was concerned only with the family business and was devoted to his extra work as Madrassah teacher.

Dataya likewise claimed knowing Adzaman as early as 1995 when he was still a law student at the University of Mindanao. "I knew him from way back then and he even became one of my supporters when I ran for a seat in the city council in 2001," Dataya said.

Dataya told The STAR he would help find lawyer friends who would provide legal assistance to Adzaman and that he would closely monitor the investigation especially since there was no warrant of arrest or any charge filed against the latter.

"I would closely watch where the investigators would bring Adzaman. I am afraid they would concoct charges against him now that he had surfaced and authorities might claim they have arrested him which is not the case," said Dataya adding that he also feared that Adzaman would be whisked off to Manila and then presented to the media as a captured Abu Sayyaf member.

"It wouldn’t be fair after having been humiliated by including Adzaman in the wanted list he would be subjected to further humiliation. There should be due process in the whole thing. Those concerned should prove on what grounds was he included in that wanted list," Dataya said.

Elements of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) interrogated Adzaman when he was turned over to the DCPO intelligence section Thursday night.