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Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Talks bog down; police mull assault on jail
MANILA -- A last-minute snag hampered efforts to end a standoff between police and a group of Abu Sayyaf inmates who snatched weapons from guards early Monday morning at a jail in Manila in a botched escape bid.
Negotiators had initially said the prisoners had agreed to surrender provided they were given media access and allowed to hold a press conference inside the jail.
Hours later the deal appeared to collapse when the inmates demanded dinner before ending the standoff.
The negotiators, Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Armm) Governor Parouk Hussin and Anak ng Mindanao party-list Representative Mujiv Hataman, said they would return to the prison Tuesday.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Avelino Razon Jr. said the police would exhaust all possible means, including not giving food to the inmates, to end the standoff and were giving them until midnight to surrender.
The detainees earlier agreed to surrender only if their safety would be guaranteed. They had initially demanded a speedy trial of their cases and raised the lack of medicine in the jail among their complaints.
Assault warning
Police surrounded the jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig, where 425 suspects are detained, including 129 suspected members and leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
Police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil, who had warned of a major assault if the inmates didn't give up their weapons, said about 10 men were involved in the uprising, led by two Abu Sayyaf members.
The standoff in the prison center continued as of past 11 p.m. Monday.
A spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf suspects, detainee Hazdi Daie, threatened in a telephone interview that if police stormed the building, "then you will hear bombings all over Manila."
Monday's standoff began when a suspected Abu Sayyaf member, who was about to be escorted to a morning court hearing, overpowered a guard before he could be handcuffed, took a rifle and shot the prison officers around him, police officials said. Other inmates then grabbed weapons.
Three guards--Senior Jail Officer 4 Edgardo Dajay, an Ilonggo, and Jail Officers Rogelio "Juan" dela Cruz and Amadeo Salapati--were killed and three other prison officials were wounded and rushed to a hospital, police said. Two Abu Sayyaf members also were killed.
100 hostages
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Director Arturo Alit said the attempted jailbreak happened at 6:30 a.m.
It wasn't clear if hostages were being held, police Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said. But the inmates' spokesman told radio station dzBB radio that the suspects were holding about 100 hostages.
Police said only inmates remained inside the aging building.
An armored personnel carrier moved in front of the steel-fenced detention center. Another was positioned outside the gate. In a building across from the detention center, about two dozen police took cover. Several ambulances were on standby.
The two Abu Sayyaf leaders are Alhamzer Manatad Limbong and Kair Abdul Gapar, Bataoil said.
Limbong, also known as Kosovo, was allegedly involved in a mass kidnapping in 2001-2002 that left several hostages dead, including two Americans, and a ferry bombing a year ago that killed more than 100 people in the country's worst terror attack. Gapar is a kidnap-for-ransom suspect.
Tipped off
Newly designated PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao, who was deprived Monday of a formal installation as head of the national police force because of the standoff, was also overseeing events at the jail.
Police would launch a prison assault if necessary, said Lomibao, while waiting for outcome of the negotiations.
State prosecutor Peter Medalle, who is handling several cases involving the Abu Sayyaf, told reporters that jail guards were tipped off about a possible prison break three weeks ago because of an intercepted mobile phone conversation between Limbong and Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Solaiman.
"We warned them repeatedly...as late as last week of the planned escape. Apparently, our warnings were ignored," he said.
Gappal Bannah Asali, a suspect in the Valentine's Day bus bombing in Makati City, said the Abu Sayyaf inmates had planned the escape as early as December last year.
He said that in December Limbong called him and ordered him to meet with a woman who would smuggle a .45 pistol in the camp. "Now I am thinking that the pistol was for this (jailbreak)," he said.
Resignation calls
Senators Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada and Manuel Villar called for the resignation of BJMP officials following the attempted jailbreak.
Villar and Estrada said there was laxity in the handling of prisoners.
Villar, chairman of the Senate public order and illegal drugs committee, the chief of the BJMP and all personnel should be dismissed every time there is a jailbreak.
The 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. (AP/Sunnex Luzon)
(March 15, 2005 issue)
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