ILOILO CITY, Philippines, September 21 (IslamOnline.net) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is going to Mindanao on Monday, September 22, to check on the military’s intensified efforts to recapture alleged terrorist Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi.

Arroyo will visit the Mindanao province of Sulu and a remote area in the nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province to check on the pursuit operations against Al Ghozi, whom the military wants to present as a gift to the U.S. President George W. Bush on his state visit here less than a month from now.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, General Narciso Abaya, said last week that they are doubling their efforts for the Indonesian national’s re-arrest so they could present him to Bush as a "gift".

But in her September 18 statement, Arroyo stressed that Al Ghozi’s capture is not dependent on the U.S. leader’s state visit.

"Al-Ghozi is an isolated tactical target and his capture has nothing to do with the Bush visit. The government is hot on the heels of AL Ghozi and we will get him in due time," she said.

Arroyo also said that when she goes to Mindanao on Monday, she will not only check on the intensified hunt for Al-Ghozi but also look into "the entire run of peace and development activities that have a bearing on our fight against terrorism and poverty."

"The dragnet is closing in on him and we are severely limiting his chances of getting through it," Arroyo said of her government’s efforts against Al Ghozi, who is said to be an expert bomb-maker belonging to the obscure but ever present Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

The authorities are not pegging a date for the capture of Al Ghozi, but the hunt, Arroyo said, "will be focused, intense and relentless." Al Ghozi’s capture is also "a key event but it is not the whole pie of security. Many other pieces have to be put in place."

The Philippine military reported on September 17 that Al Ghozi, is somewhere near the town of Tungawan in the Zamboanga area.

Arroyo will fly to Sulu’s capital town Jolo on Monday then to Tungawan from where she then proceeds to visit and check the socio-economic projects being pursued in Mindanao.

The projects referred to are funded not only by the national and local governments but also by several multinational agencies through their official development assistance including the United States Aid for International Development.

But Senator Rodolfo Biazon recommended that the President, "being an economist, should focus on the management of the national economic problems of the country more than other matters such as personally taking the lead in the hunt for Al Ghozi."

"By this simple act of the President having to lead this manhunt, she is projecting to the public that her law enforcement chiefs are incompetent," the vice chairman of the Philippine Senate Committee on National Defense and Security chided.

He recommended that "she should fire them and effect a total revamp of these agencies and find men who could do the job. She should also find a man who can closely supervise the operations of the Defense Department by immediately appointing a Secretary of National Defense."

The former AFP Chief of Staff asserted, "If it takes the President to lead the manhunt to effect the recapture of an escaped terrorist this could distract the President from the equally or more important business of pump-priming the economy of the country."

"Attending to the peace and order situation might be taking up too much of her time," he emphasized.

Biazon also reiterated his earlier concern that the recapture of Al Ghozi should be to protect the Filipino people against terrorism and not to serve as a tribute for the arrival of U.S. President Bush by the Arroyo administration."

"The Administration seems to be wanting to project that the Philippines continuously gives the United States the unqualified support in its unilateral policies adopted in the Iraq problem," Biazon assessed.

"It may project to the public that the Al Ghozi saga is being staged-managed to include the Philippine National Police (PNP) allowing the escape of this international terrorist," Biazon cautioned adding that "if Al Ghozi is recaptured, it should be because this is the credible thing to do - to repair the damage to the government caused by his escape."

"Because of the adverse effect of Al Ghozi's escape to the image of the Philippines and the economy and political stability of the country, the recapture of Al Ghozi should be given top priority but not to the point that efforts to recapture him is being projected that this is being done to please U.S. President George W. Bush," Biazon concluded.

To the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is expected to resume peace negotiations with the Philippine government next month, the Al Ghozi manhunt is used "as pretext for the continued military campaign in identified areas of the MILF."

Lawyer Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said in an official statement dated September 19, that the hunt for Al Ghozi in MILF areas "is a clear violation of the cessation of hostilities between the two armed forces," which was confirmed by the two parties on July 19, and reaffirmed by the 11th Joint GRP-MILF Meeting of the Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities on August 4 at Cotabato City.

Al Ghozi has gained a new epithet among the Bangsamoro youth as a "flying saucer" reminiscent of a tiny bird called "kenti" that can easily shift from one branch to another.

In August 2003, Al Ghozi was reported to have sought refuge in Sultan Naga Dimaporo and Maigo, both of Lanao del Norte. The manhunt suddenly shifted to Kabuntalan and Datu Piang in Sultan Kudarat, all of Maguindanao, and Midsayap and Pigcawayan of North Cotabato.

Lately, the government troops have combed the hilly municipality of Siraway in Zamboanga Sibugay. Interestingly, these areas are strongholds of the BIAF, which is the armed force of the MILF with about 46 military camps/bases identified for purposes of the General Cessation of Hostilities or Ceasefire Agreement.

"Next time Al Ghozi might fly to another area in the pursuit of the continued military campaign despite the existing ceasefire accord," Kabalu said a matter-of-factly.

Al Ghozi has been sentenced to 10-12 years in prison by a Philippine court for possession of explosives during his arrest. He is also facing charges for the December 30, 2000, bombings in Metro Manila that left 22 Filipinos killed.