Al Ghozi bolted from jail with two alleged Abu Sayyaf members on July 14

Rexcel John Sorze, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, August 6 (IslamOnline.Net) – In a sign that things were proceeding well between the two sides, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) offered to help the government Philippine in recapturing alleged Indonesian terrorist Fathur Roman Al Ghozi, who escaped from the supposedly tight police custody last month.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said they were willing to help but are yet to act officially after the creation of an anti-crime committee to be created by both the MILF and the Philippine government peace panel.

“We cannot act officially yet because we still wait the implementation of the joint communiqué between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF which formed a committee that is tasked to run after criminals here,” Jaafar told Manila radio station DZRH on Tuesday, August 5.

He asserted that the MILF was “capable of extending some help to the government in this effort.”

Jaafar could not, however, tell if Al Ghozi, the alleged bomb expert of the Jemaah Islamiyah, is still in this Southeast Asian country or not.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed on July 25 optimism that the Philippine National Police (PNP) would be able to recapture Al Ghozi, who bolted from jail with Abdulmukim Edris and Mehran Abante, two Abu Sayyaf members, on July 14.

She reaffirmed confidence government authorities would be able to recapture the Indonesian Al Ghozi “soon”.

PNP chief Hermogenes Ebdane said there were “positive developments” in their manhunt for Al Ghozi, who has been sentenced to 10-12 years in prison by a Philippine court for his possession of explosives.

He is also facing charges for the December 30, 2000 bombings in Metro Manila.

Southeast Asian governments, particularly Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, were asked to help pluck the possible exit routes of Al Ghozi.

The government has offered a P10-million (P1=US$52) bounty for his recapture.

Hold-departure Order

In a related development, the Bureau of Immigration issued last week a hold-departure order against Al Ghozi and nine other suspected members of the JI.

The order tasks immigration officials manning airports and seaports to bar them from leaving.

Commissioner Andrea Domingo of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration and Deportation issued the directive upon the order of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 54.

The court is hearing the multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder charges against the suspects.

Placed on the immigration hold-departure order aside from Al Ghozi were Indonesians Isamuddin Riduan and Abubakar Bafana Faiz and Moklis Hadji Yunos, an alleged MILF operative who confessed taking part in the bombings.

Also ordered included in the order were Zainal Paks, Salman Moro, Ustad Said, Mohamad Amir, Sammy Arinday and a certain Col. Efren Torres.

Yunos is in police custody. Bafana is detained in Singapore. All the eight other accused are still at large.

The accused were indicted based on confessions by Al-Ghozi and Yunos that they conspired to bomb the Light Railway Transit (LRT) in Blumentritt, Manila, a passenger bus in Cubao, Quezon City, the Plaza Ferguson across the United States Embassy in Manila, an abandoned gasoline station on EDSA in Makati City and a warehouse at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City on December 30, 2000.

Some 22 people died and over a hundred others were wounded in the five almost simultaneous explosions two years ago.

Escape Probe

Arroyo, meanwhile, said she is awaiting the investigation result of the three-man presidential fact-finding commission she created to look into the escape before she expands the team to become the police-reform commission.

She said the police-reform commission would look into the alleged corruption in the police and other issues, which would help her come up with “measures to reform the entire PNP.”

Arroyo said the three-member investigating team “has acquired full jurisdiction over the investigation and will have control over the custody, security and questioning of potential witnesses.”

She swore to “pursue the truth to the end just as we shall hunt down Al Ghozi without let-up. I call on anyone who has information on this case to get in touch with the commission and come forth. This is a matter that is important to our national security and to the safety and well-being of every Filipino and other citizens of the world.”

The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed on July 16 criminal charges before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office four police officials, who have since declared innocence.