EDITORIAL - The MILF and Al-Ghozi

Officially the government is trying to ignore the signs. But there’s no escaping the fact that Abdulmukim Edris, the Abu Sayyaf member who escaped last month from Camp Crame, was apprehended in Mindanao last week and later shot dead together with a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. So far the MILF has not disowned its dead member or denied that he had been arrested together with Edris.

What the MILF has denied are allegations that the separatist group is harboring Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, the Indonesian terrorist who escaped together with Edris from the headquarters of the Philippine National Police. Intriguingly, however, Eid Kabalu of the MILF said a 40-minute videotape, likely to be broadcast this week, will show that Al-Ghozi was sprung from detention by insiders. Kabalu claims Al-Ghozi even used a helicopter for his getaway.

The broadcast of that revealing video, if it truly exists, is now eagerly awaited. In the meantime, some questions must be asked: How did the MILF get wind of the existence of the purported video, with Kabalu even knowing which embassies in Kuala Lumpur had been furnished copies? Would this have anything to do with the fact that the Malaysian capital is playing host to the resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF?

In response to these questions, the separatist group will probably reite-rate that Kabalu has been sacked as MILF spokesman. That still won’t put to rest suspicions that in his moment of need, Al-Ghozi turned to the MILF, which agreed to give him protection. Al-Ghozi, after all, is said to have worked with the MILF in the bomb attacks that killed 22 people in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000. Members of Al-Ghozi’s Islamist terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, have said they trained in MILF camps.

Now the MILF is protesting the buildup in Lanao of government troops pursuing Al-Ghozi. Perhaps the buildup is bound to end soon; there are persistent reports that Al-Ghozi has been captured and is undergoing interrogation. If the MILF wants to keep out government forces and get on with peace talks, the best thing the separatists can do is deny safe haven to fugitives.