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Friday, November 19, 2004
2 more Davao 'bombers' nabbed in Davao Norte
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- The Moro man allegedly abducted by military agents in Panabo City in Davao del Norte on November 13 resurfaced Thursday in Manila.
Abdul Rahman Camili, alias Barok, 31, and an active member of the militant group Bayan Muna, was presented by the military during a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City Thursday as one of the suspects in the Davao bombings.
Presented along with Camili was Rio Dimson Manamba, alias Bobot, who was also arrested in Asuncion, Davao del Norte on Monday.
Executive Secretary and Anti-Terrorism Task Force Chief Eduardo Ermita and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Ebdane led the presentation of the two suspects.
Ermita said the suspects were captured during a follow-up operation in separate places in Davao del Norte.
"This shows the continuing effort by the government to monitor the activities of terrorists in the Philippines," said Ermita.
Authorities claimed Thursday the two were linked to the al-Qaeda-allied Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Brig Gen. Alexander Yano said Abdul Manap Mentang, a suspect earlier arrested, identified the two as among those involved in the bombings.
Mentang, who claimed to be a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), allegedly admitted his involvement in the twin bombings that killed 39 people and injured 170 others.
The two are suspected of planting the bomb at the waiting shed of Davao airport terminal in March 2003, which killed 23 people including an American missionary and wounded 115 others, and another bomb a month later, at the Sasa wharf that killed 16 and wounded 55.
They are among the more than 100 people arrested in anti-terror sweeps since March, officials said.
Their names and locations were provided by previously arrested suspects who told investigators they were part of cells trained by Jemaah Islamiyah operatives, the military said in a statement.
The military statement said the pair told government investigators the bombings were carried out "with the knowledge of Jemaah Islamiyah."
The arrests came after authorities last month nabbed a key suspect in the bombings, Abdul Manap Mentang, who allegedly confessed that he was trained in demolition and urban terrorism nine years ago by a Jemaah Islamiyah Indonesian operative called Zulkifli.
A secret government report this year said Zulkifli, who allegedly ordered the Davao attacks and headed Jemaah Islamiyah's Philippine cell, was arrested in Malaysia last year.
The military statement said "government intelligence indicates that there are numerous reports about the presence of foreigners believed to be elements of JI on Mindanao," the main southern island, where Muslim separatists rebels have been waging a decades-long struggle for self-rule and are occasionally accused of harboring terrorists.
The rebels, who have entered peace talks with the government, have denied any link to terrorism and offered their camps for military inspections.
Local military officials in Davao Region earlier denied involvement of military agents in the abduction of Camili.
Karapatan secretary general for Southern Mindanao Ariel Casilao on Wednesday said Camili was abducted at around 6 a.m. in Barangay Datu Abdul, Panabo City on November 13 while the victim and his wife Analin were on their way to the mosque.
He said the abductors were onboard an L300 van with no plate number.
Witnesses saw fully armed men forcibly seize Camili and sped towards Davao City.
"There were also witnesses who said that the perpetrators were operatives of the intelligence unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Several residents in the area also testified that days before the abduction, they noticed the van passing by several times and doing surveillance," Casilao said.
Casilao said Camili's abduction is similar to the series of abduction cases that happened last year.
To date, Karapatan said there are already nine Moro civilians abducted with four still missing.
The group earlier challenged the Philippine National Police to conduct an independent and in-depth investigation on the possible involvement of enlisted intelligence operatives of the military in the abduction of Camili and all the other abductions. (With AP)
(November 19, 2004 issue)
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