Court summons police, NBI to shed light on bombing

A policeman and two agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have been summoned by a Manila judge to testify in the hearings in connection with the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) station in Blumentritt, Manila.

Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 54 Judge Lucia Purugganan subpoenaed Senior Police Officer 2 Athos de Quiros of the Western Police District-Homicide Section, one of the policemen who responded immediately after the bomb exploded at the LRT station.

Purugganan also summoned Anna Marie Velasquez and Camid Cabagutan of the NBI’s anti-fraud and computer crime unit. The two agents were part of the team who investigated the bomb attack that killed at least 19 people, some of them children, and wounded more than 100 others.

De Quiros, Velasquez and Cabagutan are scheduled to testify at the hearings set on Nov. 11, 18 and 25 and Dec. 2 and 9.

Self-confessed bomb-maker Hadji Moklis, alias Saifullah Yunos, is the only suspect now under police custody. He earlier pleaded guilty to charges of multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder in connection with the bombing.

He later recanted and wanted to have his plea reversed, which the court has yet to grant.

Moklis, once considered one of the toughest and best-trained in terrorist tactics among Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) operatives, said he "did not mean to admit" any participation in the bombing.

His lawyer said he was merely a "fall guy" forced to execute an affidavit admitting responsibility for the LRT bombing, one of five near-simultaneous attacks in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000.

State prosecutor Peter Ong is confident the government can convict Moklis.

"Regardless of Moklis’ plea, the government could ensure his conviction for the charges," he said. "We have the same set of evidence to be presented in court, which we believe would prove his guilt."

Earlier, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the case against Moklis and others charged in connection with the LRT bombing remains strong despite the death of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.

Chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said Al-Ghozi’s confession can still be binding and presented in court as long as the one who assisted him in executing the affidavit and the prosecution lawyers can prove he indeed made such admissions.

Moklis and Al-Ghozi, who was killed last Sunday in an encounter with military and police operatives, implicated each other and two other Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders in the LRT bombing.

In their affidavits detailing their participation in the attack, Moklis and Al-Ghozi implicated Indonesian Isamuddin "Hambali" Riduan and Malaysian Abubakar Bafana Faiz in the bombing. They said the two JI leaders were the ones who funded and administered the bomb attack.

Al-Ghozi, the two JI leaders, and five more — Alim Pangalian, Zainal Paks, Salman Moro, Ustad Sail, and Mohamad Amir — were charged with multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder.

They joined Moklis, Col. Efren Torres and Sammy Arinday, who were earlier charged in connection with the bombing.

After Moklis was arrested on May 25, he admitted he was the chief of the MILF’s special operations group and acted as the planner of the bombings.

He said the "Abu Saad" he mentioned in his affidavit was Al-Ghozi.

Moklis said he assembled the relay components of the bombs used and that it was Al-Ghozi who assembled the timing devices and repacked the explosives.

He added that Amir, Paks, and Sail were those who carried out the nearly simultaneous bomb attacks on the LRT station, a bus in Cubao, Dusit Hotel in Makati City, Plaza Ferguson in Manila and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Al-Ghozi, on the other hand, named Moklis as the one who asked for support to finance their jihad (holy war) in Manila, which was supervised by the two JI leaders.

He admitted owning an account at the Philippine National Bank using the alias Edris Anwarudin. He said the two JI leaders used the money to procure the explosives in Cebu City.

Al-Ghozi said he was with Moklis and a certain Amir when they proceeded to Manila on the last week of November 2000 on board a SuperFerry vessel, carrying with them 30 kilos of explosives.

He also said that he, Moklis, and two others met the two JI leaders at NAIA on Dec. 1, 2000. He said the two men came here to supervise the progress of planned bomb attacks.

Flight manifests showed the JI leaders’ arrival in the country at that time.