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Monday, March 14, 2005
Sayyafs agree to surrender and lay down arms
MANILA (6th Update, 5:30 p.m.) -- National Capital Region Police Office director Avelino Razon said Abu Sayyaf inmates who staged a botched jailbreak have agreed to surrender and lay down their arms.
Razon in an ANC interview said the Abu Sayyaf inmates, led by Alhamzer Manatad Limbong alias Kumander Kosovo, agreed to get out of the building in groups of 10.
He said Kosovo's group also demanded that they be allowed to face the members of the media to air out their grievances that led to the bloody incident early Monday morning.
Kosovo's group said they would surrender by late afternoon Monday after an agreement with the government has been signed that would guarantee their safety and respect for their rights.
Negotiating in behalf of the government are Representative Mujiv Hataman, Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Armm) Governor Parouk Hussein, Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes and PNP Director Arturo Lomibao.
The government negotiators were negotiating with the inmates led by Kosovo and Hafti Dais alias Ka Lando.
Reyes will sign the agreement.
During the negotiations the inmates were able to obtain guarantees for a speedy trial and right to representation by lawyers of their choice.
Atty. Pura Calleja of the Free Legal Assistance Group admitted that Kosovo has not been provided with a private counsel. She said that the case of the suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits have been dragging on for four years now.
Other demands
Other demands laid down by Kosovo's group include the suspension of military operations (Somo) in Sulu and fair trial for suspected bandits, among other conditions.
"They demanded for a suspension of military operations without prejudice to self-defense and assistance to displaced victims in Sulu and economic development," said Oliver Lozano, lawyer of Kosovo in an ANC interview.
Jailbreak plot
Meanwhile, Razon said the PNP and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology had received reports of the possible prison break in Bicutan since December.
Gappal Bannah Asali alias Maidan or Boy Negro, a suspect in the Valentine's Day bombing, supported this report.
He said Kosovo called him through mobile phone and ordered him to meet with a woman who would smuggle a .45 pistol into the detention facility.
Maidan would not say whether he met with the woman but said he did not go through with the operation.
"Now I am thinking that the pistol was for this (jailbreak)." he said.
Personnel of the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team have positioned themselves inside the grounds of Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig while negotiations for the peaceful surrender of Abu Sayyaf inmates continue.
Police set a 3 p.m. deadline for the negotiations but apparently it has been extended.
When police started to move inside the facility, a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf suspects, detainee Hazdi Daie, threatened in a telephone interview that if police storm the building, "then you will hear bombings all over Manila."
Three Abu Sayyaf inmates in an apparent attempt to break prison grabbed three short firearms from jail guards while queuing for breakfast 7:00 a.m. Monday.
The bandits opened fire on jail officers resulting to the death of three officers and wounding of five others.
Senior Jail Officers Juan Dagay and Juan dela Cruz were declared dead on arrival when rushed to the nearby Sabili hospital in Bicutan.
Jail Officer I Amadeo Salapati who was rushed to Makati Medical Center was also declared dead by attending doctors while his companion Alberto Lubreo is still in a critical condition.
He said all 129 inmates holed up in four-storey prison building run by BJMP are Abu Sayyaf members and among them are Ghalib Andang alias Kumander Robot and Nadzmie Saabdulah alias Kumander Global.
The al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf is notorious for deadly bombings and ransom kidnappings in which some hostages have been beheaded. A number of Abu Sayyaf suspects have managed to escape from jails.
Two years ago, a top terror suspect, Indonesian Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi, escaped from Manila police headquarters while serving a 12-year term for possession of explosives. He was killed in a shootout with police a few months later.
Last April, more than 50 inmates, led by suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, used a smuggled pistol to flee from a jail on southern Basilan island. In December, a Filipino suspect who was being interrogated about a bomb found on a bus was fatally shot at a Manila detention center after allegedly killing a guard.
Philippine jails are often dilapidated, with inadequate and sometimes corrupt staff. (Sunnex with AP)
(March 14, 2005 issue)
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