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