By Arlyn dela Cruz, Nikko Dizon, Norman Bordadora
Inquirer
Last updated 01:38am (Mla time) 10/21/2007
MANILA, Philippines — The military yesterday said the bomb attack on the country’s premier financial district was a “terrorist act” regardless of who carried it out.
The military statement followed claims from someone supposedly representing the Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM) that the bombing of the Glorietta 2 mall was the handiwork of the group.
The claim, however, appeared to be a hoax.
“Allahu Akhbar, we want the military to immediately release Ahmed Santos to prevent incoming collateral damage. Makati is just the beginning,” said a text message from someone who identified himself as “Sheik Omar RSRM.”
The RSRM is another name used to refer to the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), an alleged Islamist terror band linked by security officials to the Abu Sayyaf Group. Police say the RSM—an urban-based group composed mostly of Muslim converts or “Balik Islam”—has been neutralized and is inactive since 2006.
The text message was sent to a senior reporter of the ABS-CBN television network yesterday morning.
A senior officer of the Philippine National Police doubted the claim.
“It would be easy to name RSM as the one behind the Glorietta bombing and I will not be surprised if suspects allegedly from RSM will be arrested, but no—that could not have been the handiwork of RSM,” said the officer.
“It’s a terror attack no doubt, but not RSM or any al-Qaida-linked group.”
The officer, a counterterrorism expert, asked not to be identified, saying he is involved in the probe of the bombing and does not want the investigation jeopardized.
Wrong scenario
Even the way the text message was composed is suspicious, said the officer.
“Why address it to the military? Did you see that in previous messages or statements made by the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) or the RSM? Compare it and you will see that it’s not even close to the authentic statements made by real terrorist groups in the past,” the officer said.
He added in Filipino: “Whoever drew up that scenario is wrong. He mixed revolutionary and Islamic (terms) and that is not correct ideologically. And if they really studied the personalities in RSM, Santos and Omar are enemies. Definitely, Omar will not ask for the release of Santos.”
Santos, arrested in 2006 in Zamboanga, is detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig while Omar is at large and has a million peso reward money for his capture.
PNP intelligence sources claim Omar is Ruben Lavilla in real life and adopted the name Sheik Omar when he converted to Islam. He hails from Lambunao, Iloilo, is a former medical student at the University of the Philippines in Manila and studied shariah law in Madena, Saudi Arabia.
Omar is described as an articulate and passionate Islamic preacher. He was last known to be in the Middle East.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias said the PNP would have to verify if the RSM really issued statement claiming responsibility.
“Our intelligence will have to validate that because it might be a hoax,” Barias told the Inquirer.
In Davao City, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it was easy to know if the Abu Sayyaf was behind the Glorietta explosion.
Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military relations chief, cited incidents in which the bandit group was involved—such as the bombing of the Superferry off Manila Bay in 2004—and “they immediately came out with a statement.”
Kabalu urged authorities to dig deeper into the incident to determine who was really behind it.
Trillanes claim
“It is a terrorist act, whoever is the perpetrator,” Esperon told reporters. “He is terrorizing the people, but we don’t know yet who is behind it.”
Esperon rejected Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ reported claim blaming him for Friday’s carnage.
“It is alleged that I am the mastermind. It’s very illogical that it would be me because [it is my job] to ensure the country’s security,” Esperon said.
“This is a political pronouncement of a politically biased person. But let’s see, he might have a report,” he said.
In his website (trillanes.com.ph), the detained former Navy lieutenant accused Esperon and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales of perpetrating the bombing.
“This blast is most likely another tactic of the administration to divert public attention away from the controversies hounding GMA.”
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who was in Baguio City for the 109th Foundation Day of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), said the incident was “apparently a terrorist attack.”
At the PMA, Teodoro asked for a moment of silence to remember those killed and injured in Friday’s attack.
A security expert tied the Glorietta bombing to local extremists’ bid to be recognized by international terror groups involved in the process of identifying which terrorist cells to fund.
Robles’ view
Retired Commodore Rex Robles told the Inquirer that it was unlikely that the explosion was a “pseudo-destabilization” meant to divert attention from scandals rocking the government, saying the bombing’s effect on public consciousness would only be “short term.”
“If the Rajah Solaiman group is indeed a breakaway organization from a bigger group, then they need funding. It fits our description of a group that needs publicity to be recognized and to get better funding,” Robles said in a telephone interview.
Robles said the al-Qaida network toward the end of the year would do “a sort of budget hearing” and identify which terror group to fund in certain regions based on its capability to launch terrorist attacks.
Robles said the only local groups capable of carrying out strong explosions, were the Abu Sayyaf, the MILF, the Moro National Liberation Front and special units of the Armed Forces.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday said the bombing at Glorietta could be a fund-raising operation of terrorists to get more funding from international supporters, and be a prelude to bigger attacks.
Speaking on radio, Gonzales said that real terrorists would not hesitate to hit innocent civilians and that the attack could be the work of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group and its local supporter, the Abu Sayyaf.
He said his office had been receiving intelligence reports that Metro Manila was to be the next target of terrorist attacks. With reports from Alcuin Pap, Cynthia D. Balana, Dona Pazzibugan, Allan Nawal, Julie Alipala, Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao
Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|
