Farmer insists he’s not GenSan bomber

A former Muslim rebel leader-turned farmer sought yesterday the assistance of President Arroyo regarding his plight after the police tagged him as the alleged brains behind the April 21 deadly bombings in General Santos City.

Abdulatip Paglala, 45, who was known as Commander Roldan of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996, said he was forced to abandon his farm and go into hiding following the police raid on their farmers’ cooperative in Tacurong City in Maguindanao last week.

Paglala eluded arrest, but the raiders took his wife, Bai Hayaran, and three other people under custody on suspicion of being members of a terrorist group responsible for the bomb attack outside a General Santos City shopping mall that left 15 people dead and 55 others wounded.

"My life is now in disarray. My wife is in jail after having been arrested during the raid on our cooperative office in Tacurong City last Wednesday," Paglala told The STAR in a clandestine interview.

For fear of more police raids, Paglala has also sent his seven children to the care of their relatives in other parts of the region. "They could be targeted by the police," he said.

He also claimed that the raiders, led by Central Mindanao police director Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot, destroyed vital documents of their cooperative, including a list of collectibles from members and premium remittances.

Paglala charged that the raiding team "planted" evidence on their office, among them an M-16 Armalite rifle, a home-made M-79 grenade launcher, and assorted ammunition.

The cooperative’s car, a white KIA pride, a motorcycle and a tricycle were also confiscated during the raid.

Paglala and his men also appealed to the Commission on Human Rights to investigate what they called a "wild scenario" allegedly concocted by the police to make it appear that he was Abu Muslim al-Ghazie who, in radio interviews, has admitted responsibility for the bomb attack and torching of two shopping malls in General Santos City.

The raid in Tacurong was staged on the same day that combined elements of the military and the police swooped down on a suspected lair of another terrorist group in Cotabato City.

The military asserted that one of three men arrested in Cotabato City was the real Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, principal suspect in the General Santos bombing.

Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said he has recommended the filing of charges of illegal possession of firearms against Junior "JR" Jikiron, alias Abu Muslim al-Ghazie, 35; and his three cohorts identified as Arman Amerodin, 16; his brother Jayhan, 15; and Khalid Mapandi, 17.

Kyamko’s unit has turned over the suspects to the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) which will file the formal charges.

"Our intelligence units are now helping the CIDG build up a strong case against them for their alleged involvement in the bombings and arson attacks in General Santos City because it would be more difficult to pursue," Kyamko said.

To reinforce his claim that they got the right suspect, Kyamko said the cellular phone and automated teller machine (ATM) cards seized from the suspects would be used as evidence for the prosecution.

The mobile phone numbers matched those registered in the caller identification devices of some businessmen in General Santos City who fell prey to the group’s extortion activities.

More than a dozen of the traders confirmed that the account numbers in the ATM cards seized from the suspects were identical to the bank accounts where they deposited "protection money."

Kyamko said earlier Jikiron had admitted having strong links with the Abu Sayyaf hierarchy, notably the terror group’s acknowledged chieftain, Khadafy Janjalani.

Jikiron and his aides were captured while they were withdrawing money from a local bank.

But Baluyot insisted that Jikiron is not the "real Al-Ghazie" wanted by the authorities for the terrorist attacks in General Santos.

Baluyot claimed that Paglala was the "true Al-Ghazie."