RP acknowledges world's regret over jailbreak
RP acknowledges world's regret over jailbreak
Agencies, Manila
President Gloria Arroyo on Friday acknowledged the world's
disappointment over the escape of a Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
terrorist from a Philippine jail and vowed to recapture the
Indonesian fugitive.
The United States and Australia -- leaders of an international
campaign against terrorism -- have expressed dismay over the
embarrassing escape on Monday of Indonesian Fathur Rohman Al-
Ghozi from the Philippine police headquarters.
"We understand the position of the United States and other
countries and we ourselves are concerned over the safety of their
nationals as well as that of our own," Arroyo said in a
statement.
She said that the government was committed to recapturing Al-
Ghozi and affirmed the Philippines' "strong role in the global
fight against terrorism".
Meanwhile Arroyo called on the country's main Muslim
separatist rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
to help in capturing Al-Ghozi.
Arroyo cited the MILF's vow that they would not shelter or
work with "terrorists" as a condition for resuming peace talks
with Manila.
She said Al-Ghozi was "a primary test case" of the MILF vow,
adding "the peace process has a large stake on this issue."
Police authorities in Manila on Friday re-enacted the escape
of Al-Ghozi and two members of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap group
from the police headquarters, revealing further laxity and
carelessness by law-enforcers.
It was also discovered that Al-Ghozi's jail was so poorly
constructed that the cell door could be bent manually.
"I saw it when I investigated. I was really shocked as well,"
Interior Secretary Jose Lina said.
Lina said the escape could "be plain stupidity (or) it can be
a grand conspiracy".
He added, however, it was too great a coincidence that
security would be so lax as to allow Al-Ghozi to flee when
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was visiting Manila.
Al-Ghozi and the two Abu Sayyaf members escaped from a jail in
the police camp on Monday with no signs of a forced breakout.
Philippine police, embarrassed by the escape of the notorious
JI bomb maker, shifted the blame on Friday to a defective jail
cell which could be opened without using keys.
"Now, we can attribute the escape not only to the human
element but also to the physical defect or the structural defect
of the detention cell," Police Criminal Investigation Director
Eduardo Matillano told reporters.
Investigators showed the media on Friday the possible escape
route of Al-Ghozi and two Abu Sayyaf members from the second
floor of a 15-year-old building inside the national police
headquarters in Manila.
During the re-enactment, they demonstrated how easily the jail
cells could be opened even without removing the heavy-duty
padlocks that secured the latch of the iron doors.
Al-Ghozi, who shared a cell with a width of about three metres
and length of seven metres with an Abu Sayyaf member, may have
gone past three sleeping jail guards in an adjacent room,
investigators said.
The fugitives then could have walked out of the building and
scaled a concrete fence out of the compound, they said.
Police officials meanwhile admitted that an Abu Sayyaf suspect
and former detainee had been allowed to work as a janitor in the
jail and had possibly helped the three others escape.
Matillano said that the former detainee, Abu Ali, who is a
state witness on an explosives case, had confessed that several
weeks before the escape he had provided Al-Ghozi with advice on
fleeing the jail.
Abu Ali had earlier been freed on bail. Police are studying
whether to file new charges against him.