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No Bin Laden Fronts in Philippines
JAKARTA, Oct 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Military officials in the Philippines and heads of non-government agencies based in Marawi City, Mindanao, on Tuesday denied that any funds originating from Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaeda group have been coursed through Islamic relief and religious organizations based in this city.
Sources close to the Saudi dissident have, according to Manila-based newspapers, confirmed to a local coordinator of one of the foundations that their benefactor was indeed responsible for orchestrating the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th.
Terrorists killed thousands of people in the U.S. using hijacked airliners to reduce New York's World Trade Center to rubble and set the Pentagon ablaze.
The source also confirmed that bin Laden has been coursing funds through his Caliph Amil Hassan Foundation, which has 1,450 branches all over the world, to fund Islamic projects in Basilan, Cotabato, Marawi, Palawan, Sulu, and Taguig and Quiapo in Metro Manila.
"I have not heard of that organization yet, and I do not think the organization will exist here as of this time," Colonel Santiago Prejido, commanding officer of the 401st Infantry Brigade said on Tuesday.
Prejido doubts very much the existence of such a conduit for terrorist funds since even ethnic Moro tribes such as the Tausug, Maranao and Maguindanao, have trouble getting along with each other.
However, he confirmed the existence of Islamic relief and religious organizations in Marawi city.
"There is an assistance that goes through this for Muslims in Lanao del Sur that I am sure that it came through the Organization of Islamic Conference [OIC]," Prejido added.
A head of a non-government organization in Marawi confirmed Prejido's observation.
Laxamana Dalidig, chairman of the Islamic Movement for Electoral Reforms and Good Government (IMERGG), said allegations of links between Islamic relief and religious organizations in Marawi and suspected terrorists like bin Laden's al-Qaeda are mere figments of imagination.
Dalidig confirmed that the organization is purely a religious organization and that there is no terrorist legacy involved in Marawi city.
Authorities in the Philippines earlier said they suspected bin Laden had invested or financed several groups in the country through his brother-in-law, who is married to a Filipina Muslim.
Sources in Marawi earlier said the Philippine government was in fact also a beneficiary of the Saudi millionaire's' largesse, through a $35,000 donation made to the Mindanao State University barely a year ago for the school's Islamic projects.
Bin Laden also allegedly visited Camp Abubakre Al-Siddiq in Matanog, Maguindanao, two years ago and met with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Salamat Hashim and other members of the MILF Central Committee, including vice chairs Aleem Abdulazziz Mimbantas, Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, and Ghazali Jaafar.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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