No collusion with rebels: RP military<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): A Philippine military probe found no
\nevidence supporting allegations that officers were colluding with
\nAbu Sayyaf rebels holding 18 American and Filipino hostages in
\nthe south, a report said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The report, prepared by a six-man investigating team, focused
\non the escape of Abu Sayyaf rebels from a besieged hospital and
\nchurch compound in Lamitan town in Basilan province, 900
\nkilometers south of Manila, on June 2.<\/p>\n
The escape triggered allegations that some military officials
\nreceived bribes from the rebels to allow them to flee the
\ncompound, which was supposed to have been surrounded by troops.<\/p>\n
The military probe team, headed by Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Rivera,
\nsaid the extremists were able to escape because the soldiers on
\nthe ground were ill-equipped and undermanned.<\/p>\n
\"The occupation of the town's church and a private hospital in
\nLamitan by the Abu Sayyaf on June 2 was bold and daring,\" Rivera
\nsaid in the report. \"The military was surprised by this move and
\nthe follow-on operation had significant tactical lapses.\"<\/p>\n
\"The lapses enabled the enemy to escape back to the
\nhinterlands together with most of their hostages,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The findings of the military probe team were different from
\nthe assessment of a Senate committee that investigated the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
Senator Ramon Magsaysay, head of the Senate committee on
\nnational defense, said there was \"strong evidence there might be
\nsome collusion between some military officers and those involved
\nin the kidnapping\".<\/p>\n
\"I am afraid we might even go for a court martial,\" he said in
\na television interview last Friday.<\/p>\n
According to the military report, troops who battled the Abu
\nSayyaf in Lamitan did not have communications equipment, were
\nonly armed with M-16 rifles and had little supply of ammunition.<\/p>\n
It added that reinforcements arrived 11 hours after the
\nfighting erupted.<\/p>\n
\"Due to limited troops available during that time, it was
\nimpossible to totally seal off all possible exit route\/points of
\nthe Abu Sayyaf,\" Rivera said.<\/p>\n
He added that there were several errors in decision-making on
\nthe ground, noting that \"maximum resources of the military should
\nhave been brought to the location with urgency to the extent of
\ncommandeering civilian air and sea transport to inject forces\".<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said her campaign
\nagainst drug trafficking was a fight to the finish and warned the
\nPhilippines could become \"Asia's Colombia\" if the drug menace was
\nnot promptly curbed.<\/p>\n
Arroyo, in a statement late on Saturday, said \"the threat of
\nnarco-politics is real\" and vowed to use all the powers of her
\noffice to prevent drug lords from having an influential role in
\nPhilippine politics.<\/p>",
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