One-armed suspect not Abu leader

[dairyman]

---

One-armed suspect not Abu leader
Police free Zamboanga 'sabungero'


First posted 01:02am (Mla time) Nov 07, 2005
By Arlyn dela Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Nov. 7, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


DIPOLOG CITY -- The long arm of the law caught up with the wrong one-armed Commander Putol.

And it was the left arm that gave the man away.

Less than a day after a buoyant President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo went on television to announce the capture of Abu Sayyaf chief of staff Radulan Sahiron, the Philippine National Police struggled with a retraction, saying it had bagged the wrong man.

"Only a look-alike," PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao said.

Lomibao issued the retraction hours after a spokesperson of the US Embassy welcomed the news of the "capture" and said the embassy was congratulating the Arroyo administration.

Linked to 21 kidnap-for-ransom cases, including the 2000 abduction of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers in Sipadan, Malaysia, Sahiron is included on the $5-million reward list of the United States.

Lomibao brought this reporter to Dipolog to help identify the captured man.

But it was not Sahiron whom a special anti-terror team flown in from Manila with utmost secrecy had arrested. The man the team had grabbed was identified by police sources as Antonio Gara, a 43-year-old Subanon native known in the community as a sabungero (cockfight aficionado).

Gara was alone when arrested outside his house in Barangay Kitabog, Titay town, in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Like the elusive bandit leader, Gara has only one arm.

This reporter had known Radulan Sahiron since 1992 and interviewed him several times since then.

But it was not Sahiron this reporter saw when the man was presented to Lomibao.

The man spoke fluent Tagalog, Bisaya and two local dialects. The real Sahiron is fluent in Arabic and Tausog.

Like the real Sahiron, the man had "Chinese" eyes and their height was almost the same, 5'4".

But there was one major glitch. The real Sahiron had had his right arm amputated. The man brought to Lomibao did not have his left arm.

Photo in cell phone

The supposed long arm of the law turned out to be shorter than the stump where once had been Sahiron's right arm.

Gara was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts when brought before Lomibao in a hotel room in Dipolog. He had a paunch and was described by residents as a cockfight aficionado.

Police also used a photo of Sahiron stored in the cell phone of an officer to compare the man they had captured with the dreaded chief of staff of the Abu Sayyaf terror group.

The blunder was the latest of a number of mistaken announcements made by the Arroyo administration since 1992 involving crime operations.

A 2-year operation

The PNP chief for intelligence, Director Simeon Dizon, who was with Lomibao, said he had his doubts about Gara because Sahiron's known whereabouts were limited to the Sulu-Basilan and Tawi-Tawi areas.

Lomibao said police had conducted a legitimate operation which involved trusting information relayed by a former intelligence officer "who has delivered in the past."

It was a two-year operation that had the blessings of the presidential task force on antiterrorism headed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

The "assets" used were former military intelligence agents in Zamboanga Sibugay.

'We are sorry'

"We apologize for the unintentional lapse," Lomibao said in his statement.

He said it was only "right to correct that mistake and bring back to his family the person invited for questioning ... We assure everyone that his rights were not violated."

Lomibao also said: "Hardworking intelligence operatives spent days and nights on one specific target ... We got one all right, but only a look-alike."

The PNP chief said that in the long, tedious fight against terrorism "there are hits and misses ... This incident [is] a constant reminder that the enemy is still out there."

He added: "The incident highlights key important elements in the government's fight against terrorism. One, the war on terror is personal and passionate. Two, the war on terror is continuing and sustained," the statement said.

"Your government is waging a war that needs all these ingredients and we assure every Filipino that your government is utilizing all its assets to cripple the enemy.

"We acknowledge this incident as a constant reminder that the enemy is still out there."

How Arroyo got it wrong

PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said despite the snafu, the police "batting average" would show "that the police have not been remiss in their duty."

Asked how Ms Arroyo got the wrong information, Bataoil said the field officers reported the arrest to Lomibao, who in turn reported it to Ms Arroyo.

"The information was relayed by our operatives in the field, with Senior Superintendent Rodolfo (Boogie) Mendoza informing the chief PNP. The chief PNP informed the President about the development in this operation."

Malacañang left to police officials the burden of explaining the bungled announcement of Sahiron's capture.

Won't be deterred

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye only said the development was a "setback" to the government's fight against terrorism.

Bunye said Lomibao's statement that the police had not captured Sahiron was "self-explanatory."

"This setback will not deter us from vigorously pursuing the fight against terrorism," Bunye said.

The blunder caused Bunye to pull out a statement issued yesterday, saying that Ms Arroyo hailed the operation against Sahiron.

As early as Saturday, after Ms Arroyo had announced Sahiron's supposed arrest, many people in Zamboanga were expressing doubts.

A diabetic, old man

Jolo Councilor Cocoy Tulawie said he could not believe it that Sahiron had been captured in Zamboanga Sibugay.

"He is very old, more than 60 years old and suffering from diabetes. If there's a report that he escaped out of Sulu, that's real news here. Besides, physically, he is no longer capable to declare jihad (holy war)," Tulawie said.

Colonel Juancho Sabban, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade based in Sulu province, also said Saturday that he had not received any reports that Sahiron had even left Sulu. With reports from Julie S. Alipala, and Dennis Baguio, PDI Mindanao Bureau; Luige A. del Puerto and Christine O. Avendaño

[dairyman]

first was alledged Julius Babao's involvement in ASG, then this one...
what's next?

[FK]

well for me... kani nga sayop maro niy pwede ra pasayloon.

basin nagpalapad lang og papel og maau mao ma-ingon ani... dali2x.

[JoRed]

first was alledged Julius Babao's involvement in ASG, then this one...
what's next?

Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*

Palpak Nasad Partz

Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*

[overseer]

Good thing is that he was released. Hopefully, his rights were not violated during detention, as what was stated.

The police should've been more observant of tiny details (right arm vs left arm).

[JoRed]

LEFT<<<>>>RIGHT

To All PNP personnel....Pls. refer to the moving text above for guidance...

AFP: PNP to blame for Sahiron boo-boo


Tuesday, 11 08, 2005

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday steered clear of the blunder made by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on the recent supposed arrest of a top leader of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf.

During a press briefing at the military's main headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga told reporters that the operation that led to the arrest of Anthony Gara, who was initially tagged as Abu Sayyaf commander Radullan Sahiron, was conducted solely by the police.

“Based on talks with the (AFP) Southern Command commander, Lt. Gen. (Edilberto) Adan, it appears that what happened was an independent operation (of the PNP),� Senga said.

He maintained that usually the police and the military coordinate on anti-terrorism operations but in this case the PNP acted on its own to nab the suspected terrorist.

Last Saturday, President Arroyo herself announced the supposed arrest of Sahiron, who has a P5-million bounty on his head for his “neutralization� over his involvement in the high-profile kidnapping of 21 mostly foreign tourists at the posh Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan in 2000.

The President even congratulated Senior Supt. Rodolfo “Boogie� Mendoza, who led the operation and is said to report directly to Mrs. Arroyo for so-called special operations.

The next day, however, the PNP admitted that it mistook Gara, a Sahiron lookalike, for the wanted rebel.

Senga said he agrees with PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao saying the blunder could have been avoided if military and police intelligence personnel had coordinated on the operation.

The AFP chief assured that the military continues to track down Sahiron, alias “Commander Putol,� in his stronghold in Sulu province in the country's southern Mindanao region, where he is the acknowledged top commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

Meanwhile, Gara, a businessman who reportedly likes gamecocks, also yesterday said he will file charges against the police for causing him and his family trauma in his arrest and being subsequently paraded before the media as a terrorist.

Gara added his family, especially his children, were traumatized by his arrest and that his wife nearly had a heart attack in hearing about it.

“It's not easy to accept the 'sorry' from those who arrested me because they subjected me to humiliation and threatened my family's life by pointing their guns at my kids,� he said in Pilipino.

Gara has four children, aged 10, 8, 7 and 5.

He said the policemen who barged inside his home at 4 p.m. last Saturday did not wear nameplates on their uniforms.

According to him, three policemen took him from his home and forced him into a van where he was blindfolded, tied up and slapped in the head three times.

Gara said the three tagged him as “Kumander Putol� — Sahiron's alias which pertains to his having an amputated right arm — and told him he is Sahiron because, like the Muslim rebel, he hails from Basilan province, also in Mindanao.

Sahiron lost his right arm at the height of the secessionist rebellion in the 1970s in Sulu.

Gara is also missing a limb, but it is his left arm.

“I've never been to Basilan,� he said.

Gara, however, added he was treated well by the police during his detention at the Dipolog Police Station in nearby Zamboanga del Norte.

Also last Sunday, the PNP, through spokesman Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil, said they “got one all right, but only a lookalike.�

On the same day, Gara was formally returned to his family by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP around 9 p.m.

He said the policemen who had arrested him did not apologize to him but asked him not to file charges against them.

Gara added he had agreed not to file charges but later was urged by his family to lodge a case against the policemen.

Lomibao also yesterday ordered that administrative sanctions be imposed on the same policemen and an investigation be conducted on the incident that embarrassed Mrs. Arroyo, who had bragged about the mistaken arrest as another victory for the local and global wars on terrorism.

He said he felt relieved after Mrs. Arroyo accepted his apology over what he called as “an honest mistake.�

Lomibao has been instructed by Malacanang to slap administrative sanction on those who had supposedly leaked the wrong information on the alleged arrest of Sahiron.

As a result of the bum steer, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also yesterday said during a radio interview over dzMM, the President would be “careful� in handling intelligence reports that she receives.

Bunye, however, refused to blame the intelligence community for the blunder, claiming that “there's no such thing as perfect intelligence.�

In 2002, Mrs. Arroyo announced the alleged arrests of kidnap-for- ransom syndicate leader Faisal Marahombsar and another Abu Sayyaff leader Isnilon Hapilon, only to discover that both were untrue.

In 2003, bank teller Acsa Ramirez was also presented by both the President and National Bureau of Investigation chief Reynaldo Wycoco as a suspect in a multimillion-peso tax scam, when she was in fact the whistleblower.

The Sahiron boo-boo has prompted lawmakers from both the administration and the opposition camps to call for a revamp at the PNP and the ouster of Lomibao and the members of the arresting team.

Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran said the incident smacked of stereotyping all the country's Muslims as terrorists.

Beltran urged the PNP and Mrs. Arroyo to indemnify the Garas for the trauma that the government caused them.

He said it was sheer luck on the part of Gara that TV reporter and news anchor Arlyn de la Cruz was able to distinguish him from Sahiron.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon said the blunder justifies the shake-up of the PNP.

Another lawmaker, Davao City Rep. Vincent Garcia, for his part, said the case of mistaken identity is “inexcusable.� Mario J. Mallari, Gina Peralta-Elorde, Sherwin C. Olaes and Amita O. Legaspi

[pandisal]

Thats the difference between true LEADER and patuotuo nga LEADER (specially cummies)... They accept mistakes and take responsibilities while others... just dance around!

For Cummies and ERAPS minions.... Pasuuulong NAH!..... kamitis! bumbay! kamatis! bumbay! kamatis! bumbay!

[jnex]

first was alledged Julius Babao's involvement in ASG, then this one...
what's next?

Well not funny at all....at least the authorities do the actions (tanan kadudahan dapat dakpon) basta di lang i-violate ang iyang rights as human wala may problema........its indeed understandable kay di man gyud malikayan ang magkamali.

[s.n.m.p.]

Wa ha ha ha ha! Ang bungisngis nga Gloria Arroyo daku kaayo ngisi kay Radulan Sahiron kuno. Pweerting gara-a. Unya diay "sabungero" diay tong ilang nadakpan.

PAKAULAW! Pero wa man ni si GMA ulaw. Okay lang.

[s.n.m.p.]

Why does Gloria Arroyo take it upon herself to make news announcements herself? When the President herself speaks, one expects that she does not speak with a forked tongue.

Why, for instance, did she announce that an Abu Sayyaf chief had been captured? Did the police tell her that they were sure that the fellow was one of the kidnappers in Sipadan? Or did they only report that they had in hand a suspect in that kidnapping.

Why did she tell a newsman that TV anchor Julius Babao paid the bail for a suspected terrorist? Did she have the proof in hand? Even the military that gave her that piece of information were not sure. They had their suspicions but had no proof or evidence of Julius’ guilt. So, why did she go ahead and name Babao?

Good thing that Gloria is not in the news business or she would have been fired a long time ago. She is no more that a rumor monger, a lowly species that had been marked for extinction by Ferdinand Marcos under Presidential Decree No. 90, issued on January 6, 1973, "declaring unlawful rumor-mongering and spreading false information." Can’t she even have the minimal competence to check things out before announcing them to the world?