Officials deny raps of Pentagon boss

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. dismissed yesterday as "hogwash" allegations that he was coddling captured Pentagon Gang leader Faisal Marohombsar.

"That’s the biggest joke I ever heard," Lina said.

Marohombsar, also known as Commander Mubarak II, claimed he was a government agent and that Lina and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza knew about his gang’s criminal activities.

Interviewed by reporters at the alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City, both Lina and Mendoza said they would not dignify Marohombsar’s allegations.

Lina is an adopted member of the PMA Class 1977, while Mendoza is a member of the PMA Class 1969.

"That is highly preposterous. That is highly suspect for a kidnap-for-ransom gang leader to claim that," said Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao.

Mendoza branded Marohombsar’s charges as "nonsense," but vowed to get to the bottom of the matter.

He asserted that the only time he had communication with Marohombsar was when the gang leader sent surrender feelers.

"But we rejected it because there were conditions," Mendoza said.

"In criminal cases, there are no conditions, no compromises," he stressed.

Marohombsar asked for livelihood assistance from the government so that he could rejoin mainstream society and live in peace with his family.

He reportedly made the allegations against Lina and Mendoza during tactical interrogation at the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF) headquarters at Camp Crame following his arrest in Quiapo, Manila before dawn last Saturday.

The suspect was cornered by agents of an elite police unit during a raid on the Zaira Lodge on Elizondo street at about 2:45 a.m.

Eight other people staying in the lodging house were taken in for questioning. They were identified as Marohombsar’s second wife Fatima, SPO2 Mustapha Mendoza Jr. of Lanao de Sur, Alex Ramalan, Tamano Salib, Anuar Sumander, Datu Anong Pakamaman Jr. and his father Datumaguda Pakamaman Sr. and Oting Akol.

Camp Crame sources said the attempt to link Mendoza to the Pentagon could be the handiwork of disgruntled policemen out to embarrass the PNP chief and derail his impending extension of tenure.

The sources said the allegations also confirmed a raging professional rivalry between Mendoza and NAKTAF chief Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

Meanwhile, Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. charged that the ongoing feud in the PNP hierarchy has been hurting government efforts to stamp out kidnapping in the country.

"There is a turf war precisely because police units undertaking anti-kidnapping operations are competing with each other. This should not be the case," Syjuco said in a statement.

He said the various police units should instead coordinate with one another to ensure success of the campaign against criminality.

To resolve the problem, he proposed the integration of Task Force Dragon under the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Task Force Sanlahi-Pentagon in Mindanao to the NAKTAF.

"The integration of the two units would put an end to the turf war. In so doing, the task and accountability would fall on NAKTAF which was created by President Arroyo to lead the campaign against kidnapping for ransom," Syjuco said.

He also said there should be overall implementing rules and guidelines governing NAKTAF to ensure efficient operations among participating agencies to complement the integration.

Pentagon gang linked to MILF

The PNP has established linkage between the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Central Mindanao police director Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot, in a report to Camp Crame, said the MILF hierarchy saw the need to strengthen its financial position by resorting to kidnapping-for-ransom.

Baluyot said the Pentagon gang was created in the aftermath of the military’s relentless assault on MILF camps in Mindanao during the Estrada administration.

Documents showed that Pentagon chieftain Tahir Alonto, who carried a P5-million bounty on his head, was a nephew of MILF deputy chief for political affairs Al Haj Murad.

Alonto was designated the overall leader of Pentagon "because he has a bigger force in Maguindanao and is related to most rebel commanders in the Liguasan Marsh," a Muslim religious leader said.

"Tahir Alonto is indispensable because he personally generates the much-needed financial support of the MILF through kidnap-for-ransom, extortion, cattle-rustling, carnapping and other criminal activities," Baluyot stated in his report.

He said the Pentagon gang, initially called Al Hassad, was founded in 1998 with some 100 members, mostly coming from the dreaded Mubarak Group.

Other leaders of the Pentagon who were trained by the MILF in guerrilla warfare were identified as Sammy Tilaka, Myangkang Saguile alias Borongos, Salem Mohamad alias Rabing Agila, Saidon Nilong, Hadji Omar alias Commander Kutang, Usman Mhalin and Commander Musin Samama.

"The groups thus organized are supposed to operate in obscurity and appear to be detached and distinct from the MILF," Baluyot noted.

He said the Pentagon gained notoriety with the abduction of Chinese engineer Zhang Zhong Quiang in North Cotabato in June last year.

The gang allegedly amassed some P30 million in ransom payments arising from eight kidnap cases last year.

Marohombsar, a scion of an influential Maranaw clan in Lanao del Sur, and a certain Abogado Bago alias Commander Mubarak founded the original Mubarak kidnap group in 1989.

The gang was believed responsible for some 90 kidnapping cases, victimizing mostly wealthy members of the Chinese-Filipino community.

Marohombsar’s relatives said he largely planned the group’s abduction operations, and helped implement some of them.

Mubarak was killed in a shootout with Marine soldiers in Pantukan, Davao del Norte on Dec. 7, 1992.

Mubarak was allegedly feared by his followers as a "ruthless" leader, hardened by more than two decades of exposure in combat as a former member of the National Security Command of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Muslim religious leaders in Lanao del Sur sounded expressed relief over reports that Marohombsar was captured in Manila, but expressed apprehensions that his influential relatives would work for his release from police custody.

"He should have been arrested a long time ago, but his relatives here in Lanao del Sur have been hiding him (from the authorities)," a source said.

He said Marohombsar and his henchmen were even used by his politician-relatives in the province to intimidate voters in a bid to win the elections.

"That could be the reason why they refused to help authorities arrest him," a Maranaw public school teacher said. — With reports from Jose Rodel Clapano, John Unson