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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
PNP denies al-Ghozi was executed
MANILA -- Post-mortem examinations conducted by police forensic experts on the remains of Indonesian terror suspect Fathur Roman al-Ghozi cleared speculations that al-Ghozi has long been dead and was executed in cold blood to present a good publicity in time for U.S. President Bush's visit.
Results of a most mortem examination estimated the time of death last Sunday, the same time authorities claimed al-Ghozi engaged in a shootout with police and military forces in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.
The same results found al-Ghozi positive of gunpowder burns meaning he was able to fire his gun, but this is contrary to the findings of a doctor in Midsayap Diagnostics Center where al-Ghozi was first brought by soldiers and policemen.
The doctor found no traces of gunpowder burns on al-Ghozi's hands, however, no further explanation was made on such findings.
President Arroyo and PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane both denied reports al-Ghozi was executed and not killed in a shootout, arguing against Pigcawayan residents' claims that the al-Ghozi could have been executed because they heard only one to three shots.
But Arroyo remained defiant: "I stand by the operational report of the authorities on this case," she said.
Some opposition figures alleged al-Ghozi was killed to prevent him from revealing police complicity in his embarrassing escape from the national police headquarters jail in Manila last July.
"It looks like al-Ghozi and others before him were silenced to prevent them from spilling the beans on the authorities who made their escape possible," Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said.
The governor of Cotabato province where al-Ghozi was killed, Emmanuel Piņol, said residents claimed to have heard no fighting despite police accounts that he engaged pursuers in a gun battle.
"There were only two shots, heard. There was no firefight," Pinol said.
Al-Ghozi was slain in what the military said was an encounter, as he tried to run through a checkpoint on the Cotabato-Davao Highway around 8 p.m. last Sunday in Barangay Pugon, Pigkawanan town, North Cotabato.
Al-Ghozi's death did not stop senators from calling a deeper investigation on the escape of al-Ghozi from his prison cell in Camp Crame three months ago, saying his death should not signal the closure of the case.
Pimentel said the probe should focus on the truth behind al-Ghozi's escape and death after a shootout in Mindanao over the weekend.
Sen. Manuel Villar also urged the government not to conclude its probe on the matter as al-Ghozi's escape from Camp Crame embarrassed the Philippines. He said those responsible for al-Ghozi's escape should face the law.
Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. concurred with Villar, saying the death of al-Ghozi may have been timed with the coming visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to earn brownie points for the Arroyo administration.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, meanwhile, said the results of the investigation could help the PNP draft tighter security regulations for "high profile" prisoners to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Omar Opik Lasal, one of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who escaped together with al-Ghozi, said in a television interview that the Indon was cuddled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) when he arrived in Mindanao.
Lasal said several MILF commanders kept al-Ghozi from the authorities and even attempted to sell al-Ghozi to the highest bidder.
But MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu in the same television interview was quick to deny the reports. He instead challenged Lasal to disclose who made money out of al-Ghozi. Kabalu said they are open for an investigation on the said allegations.
In a related development, the body of al-Ghozi arrived aboard an Air Philippines flight from General Santos City Tuesday afternoon. The plane bearing al-Ghozi's body touched down at the Manila domestic airport around 2 p.m. His body will be transported to Indonesia Wednesday.
It was supposed to be flown to Jakarta Tuesday but it was postponed to Wednesday morning because of the delayed arrival of the death certificate for al-Ghozi.
In Camp Crame, PNP operations chief Virtus Gil said his office will coordinate with Indonesian authorities to transfer al-Ghozi's body to Jakarta Wednesday morning.
According to Muslim tradition, the body should be buried within 24 hours. True to Islam tradition, government authorities here did away with burial rites of Muslims that require their dead to be buried before dusk.
This is because al-Ghozi's mother, Rukanah, a member of parliament of one of Indonesia's federal states, reportedly requested the Philippine government to bring her son back to Indonesia.
Last Tuesday, her son's body was put inside a modest casket and placed on a crate before being loaded to a Philippine Airlines commercial plane at the General Santos City Airport.
But Philippine authorities had to embalm the Indon's body.
When asked by reporters why the cadaver was not transported directly to Indonesia, Johannes Manginsela, information chief of the Indonesian Consulate Office based in Davao City, said it was the instruction he received from the Indonesian government.
Manginsela was at the airport to represent the Indonesian consulate during the sendoff rite.
He said he was closely coordinating with the family of al-Ghozi and the family reportedly allowed the embalming of the slain Indon's remains.
"All we are doing here had the clearance from the family of al-Ghozi and Indonesian government," Manginsela said.
(October 15, 2003 issue)
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