| Governor probed
on Abu AFP top spy also eyeing trader’s link
By Manny B. Marinay
TWO prominent
politicians and two businessmen, who are all based in Mindanao, are being investigated for
their alleged connection to the abduction by Abu Sayyaf terrorists of foreign tourists
from Malaysia’s Sipadan Island off Sabah on Easter Sunday, April 23.
Lt. Gen. Jose
Calimlim, Armed Forces vice chief of staff and the military intelligence chief, confirmed
in a press briefing they are verifying reports that Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan and Zamboanga
City-based businessmen Lee Peng Wee, aided the terrorists in planning the Sipadan
kidnapping.
Calimlim added
they are also gathering evidence on the alleged involvement of Tan and Wee, who also
helped mediate in the release of the kidnap victims which put the country in a bad light.
“They’re
helping in the negotiations. But we’re counter-checking the reports against them,”
Calimlim told the press briefing.
In Zamboanga City,
President Estrada said the arrest of two suspected Abu Sayyaf members who were carrying
$240,000 in cash would not affect the ongoing negotiations for the release of the 12
remaining hostages held by the terrorists in their forested hideout in Patikul, Sulu for
four months now.
No ransom
During a press
conference in the city before he left for Manila yesterday, the President also noted that
the money seized from the two suspects did not come from the government.
“As I have
said, the policy of the government is no ransom and it did not come from the government,
unless it is in pesos already,” he stressed. “It did not come from the
Philippine government, that’s why it is in dollars.”
On Thursday,
government agents seized the $240,000 cash being carried by Adjid Salik, reportedly a
brother-in-law of Abu Sayyaf leader Mujib Susukan and Jeffrey Jinnul, a security guard
from Davao City.
The two said they
were told to change the $240,000 into pesos in one of the Zamboanga City banks.
Yesterday, the
terrorists demanded the release of the suspects.
Singapore
At the Department
of Foreign Affairs, DFA Secretary Domingo Siazon said they are looking into the claim of
the terrorists that they purchased their new weapons — the Ghalil and Ultimax assault
rifles — from Singapore, a fellow member of the Philippines in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“We have to
verify, you’re talking to a kidnap group so you shouldn’t believe everything
they say,” Siazon said.
Singapore
Ambassador to the Philippines Jacky Foo also refused to comment until he sees the video
footage aired on national TV Thursday.
In that footage,
terrorist leader Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot brandished the high-powered firearms
which, he claimed, they bought from Singapore.
Hefty
commissions
Meanwhile, the
names of Wee and Tan floated after intelligence sources said they received “hefty
commissions” from the ransom paid to the abductors.
Intelligence
agents are also establishing the connection between the Mindanao politicians and
businessmen who have reportedly “favored” the Sipadan abduction and the Abu
Sayyaf terrorists.
Sources earlier
described Wee as a “businessman, a former official and friend of President (Estrada).”
On the alleged
links of the Malaysian general to the bandits, Calimlim said even Kuala Lumpur cannot
“positively confirm” the report.
“The
Malaysian government said they’re going to counter-check also,” he added.
The four-month
hostage crisis has taken its toll on the country’s economy as it scared away foreign
investors.
Libya has played a
high-profile role in the negotiations, causing criticisms that it wanted to boost its
tarnished international image.
Germany, Malaysia
and Libya reportedly paid hefty ransom to facilitate the release of the Asian and Western
hostages.
with Joel San Juan, Mirasol Ng-Gadil and Charmaine Deogracias
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