DRAGNET CLOSING IN ON AL-GHOZI - PRESIDENT ARROYO

MANILA, September 20, 2003  (STAR) A military dragnet is closing in on fugitive terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, President Arroyo said yesterday as she prepared to fly to a jungle redoubt in Zamboanga-Sibugay province to lead the search for the Indonesian bomb maker.

Speaking before a civic group in Manila, Mrs. Arroyo said the government "is not pegging a date" for the capture of Al-Ghozi, but that the hunt will be focused, intense and relentless.

"The dragnet is closing in on him and we are severely limiting his chances of getting through," she told foreign delegates attending the Global Cooperation Society International Convention and Peace Conference at the Century Park Sheraton.

Mrs. Arroyo said she will visit a trouble spot in the remote town of Tungawan in Zamboanga-Sibugay next week to check on the progress of the manhunt for Al-Ghozi.

"But it is not the whole pie of security," she said. "Many other pieces have to be put in place."

She would "check on the entire run of peace and development activities that have a bearing on our fight against terrorism" during her trip to Zamboanga-Sibugay, Mrs. Arroyo added.

In Zamboanga City, Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) chief, said Mrs. Arroyo will inspect the troops in Tungawan to assess the military operation to capture Al-Ghozi.

"She will give a special instruction on the troops to capture Al-Ghozi," he said.

Kyamko said government troops clashed with a band of armed men who were believed to be rebels giving sanctuary to Al-Ghozi in Tungawan three weeks ago.

"Unfortunately, they eluded our troops," he said.

Kyamko said there is at present no major troop movement in Tungawan, where Al-Ghozi was reported to have landed with a security escort.

"But the military has intensified intelligence movement to locate the Indonesian fugitive," he said.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Narciso Abaya believes that Al-Ghozi is hiding on the border of Zamboanga City and Zamboanga-Sibugay province.

Mrs. Arroyo’s visit to Tungawan will be her second stop after flying from Jolo, Sulu on the same day.

It is Mrs. Arroyo’s first assessment of ground troops since assuming the post of secretary of national defense in a concurrent capacity following the resignation of Angelo Reyes last Aug. 29.

Additional troops have been placed on standby to secure Mrs. Arroyo during her visit to Jolo on Monday.

Kyamko said the Joint Task Force Comet, a military unit running after the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu under Brig. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, has also deployed additional troops.

The operation against the bandits, who recently took hostage dentist Romeo Lao and his nephew Amor Rubio, will be stepped up during Mrs. Arroyo’s visit to Sulu, he added.

The Abu Sayyaf bandits have reportedly demanded a huge ransom for the safe release of the two victims, but their family appealed for a lower amount.

Lao and Rubio were on their way to open the family-run bakery when three gunmen snatched them last Sept. 5 in downtown Jolo.

In Cagayan de Oro City, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, said Mrs. Arroyo should focus on managing the country’s economy instead of taking part 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," he said.

"She should fire them and effect a total revamp of these agencies and find men who could do the job.

"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."

Biazon, vice chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, urged Mrs. Arroyo to "immediately" appoint a secretary of national defense so that matters on national defense and peace and order could be closely supervised and she could be free to attend to the economic problems of the country.

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

"Being a trained economist, President Arroyo should prioritize the implications to the economy of the failed Cancun round of talks related to the implementation of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) by the WTO (World Trade Organization)," Biazon said.

Meanwhile, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) accused the military yesterday of using the Al-Ghozi manhunt as "a mere cloak" to harass its camps in Mindanao.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said troops have been moving mostly in areas where there are known MILF camps.

Kabalu said the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the MILF’s armed wing, has about 46 military camps/bases identified for purposes of the General Cessation of Hostilities or Ceasefire Agreement.

Kabalu said they became suspicions after the military manhunt for Al-Ghozi suddenly shifted to Kabuntalan, Sultan Kudarat and Datu Piang towns in Maguindanao, and Midsayap and Pigcawayan towns in North Cotabato.

Al-Ghozi was reported to have sought refuge in Sultan Naga Dimaporo and Maigo towns in Lanao del Norte last August, he added.

Kabalu said it is clear government authorities are using Al-Ghozi as pretext for the continued military campaign to identify MILF areas.

The spying on the camps is a clear violation of the cessation of hostilities between the Armed Forces and the MILF, he added.

The MILF has a base in Sipakit, a complex of mountains in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte and in Tungawan, Zamboanga-Sibugay.

Al-Ghozi was serving a 17-year jail term for explosives possession when he escaped last July 14, along with Abu Sayyaf cohorts Abdulmukim Edris and Omar Opik Lasal from Camp Crame in Quezon City .

Edris and Mahmud Ismael, an MILF commander, were captured, but subsequently killed after they allegedly tried to wrest away firearms from soldiers whom they were guiding to the supposed hideout of Al-Ghozi in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town, Lanao del Norte.

Al-Ghozi has also been separately charged along with Jemaah Islamiyah operations chief Hambali for a spate of bombings in Metro Manila in 2000.

Hambali, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, is now in US custody after he was arrested in Thailand by US Central Intelligence Agency agents and Thai police last month. — Marichu Villanueva, Roel Pareño, Bong Fabe, AFP