Bali bombers now in Metro?

Two senior Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants who were implicated in the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia could now be hiding in Metro Manila, officials disclosed yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said security forces are on alert following reports that Malaysian nationals Dulmatin and Umar Patek are now hiding somewhere in the metropolis and are planning attacks to coincide with All Saints’ Day.

Ermita issued the statement as President Arroyo ordered increased security in cemeteries and establishments in Metro Manila against the possibility of a terror attack.

"I direct all law enforcement authorities to keep a tight watch over the holidays as we keep our people, with their full cooperation, out of harm’s way. I commend the police for their constant vigilance and sense of duty," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President noted a terror attack might happen in a situation similar to that in New Delhi, India last Saturday that left more than 60 people dead during a major Hindu holiday.

Ermita disclosed security forces have been placed on high alert amid the possibility of an attack by JI and the Abu Sayyaf to disrupt the observance of All Saints’ Day.

In a telephone interview, Ermita said authorities are hunting down the two Malaysian militants, who may have already slipped into Metro Manila from Mindanao.

"I think one of them is the one called Patek. We’re still looking for them," he said.

The United States government has offered $10 million for the capture of Dulmatin and $1 million for Patek, both tagged in the October 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, nearly half of them foreign tourists.

A ranking security official, however, said there is no solid information that could pinpoint the exact location of the two JI militants.

"What we have is only very loose information but we are proceeding (on) the assumption that they are here (in Metro Manila)," he said.

The official explained the two JI militants may have opted to "lie low" for the moment, owing to the publicity generated by the death verdict on three terrorists last Friday.

The Makati City regional trial court sentenced to death Indonesian national Rohmat Abdurrohim and Abu Sayyaf members Abu Khalil Trinidad and Gammal Baharan for the Valentine’s Day bombing in the city this year that killed four people and wounded more than a hundred others.

The official said the three convicted terrorists employed the same method of lying low for four months after entering Metro Manila before carrying out their grisly plans on Feb. 14.

Intelligence officials last week claimed Dulmatin and Patek had planned to carry out Bali-type bomb attacks with the help of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) in targeting several nightspots in Malate, Manila frequented by foreigners.

The plot, however, did not push through following the arrest of RSM leader Hilarion del Rosario Santos last week in Zamboanga City.

Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for intelligence Rear Adm. Tirso Danga said Santos was with Patek and Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani somewhere in the dense jungles of central Mindanao before he was arrested in Zamboanga City.

The military had claimed both Dulmatin and Patek have made arrangements with Janjalani in coordinating efforts on how to carry out bomb attacks in the country.

Dulmatin, alias Joko Pitono, was also implicated in the March and April 2003 bombings of the Davao International Airport and Sasa Wharf in the city.

The UK-based Asia Pacific Foundation earlier revealed the Abu Sayyaf is providing protection and assistance to the JI militants in return for training the bandits in handling explosives.

Among the JI militants who admitted training the Abu Sayyaf bandits was Abdurrohim, who was sentenced to death by the Makati court on Friday, along with his two "graduates" who also admitted carrying out the Feb. 14 bombing attack.

Following the death verdict, security forces have been placed on high alert on the possibility of retaliatory attacks by the JI and the Abu Sayyaf.

State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, one of the prosecutors of the case against the three convicted bombers, had claimed there are intelligence reports that the Abu Sayyaf "plans to bomb Metropolitan Manila in retaliation for whatever decision is handed out."

Officials hailed the decision since it marked the first time that the government had convicted a member of the Indonesian-based JI terror network.

Security officials also noted that Abdurrohim is a senior member of the JI, thus triggering reports that his Indonesian compatriots will launch retaliatory attacks in the Philippines with the help of the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf had claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 bombing, as well as two other simultaneous bomb attacks in Davao City and General Santos City, reportedly in retaliation for the intensified military offensives against the rebels.

‘High-risk prisoners’

On the other hand, National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) officials announced they are ready to take in the three high profile prisoners.

Considering the three death convicts as "high-risk" inmates, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Vicente Vinarao assured everything is in place to secure them against the possibility of escape or being spirited out.

Vinarao said Abdurrohim, Trinidad and Baharan will join other high-profile criminals in the maximum security compound.

The three are set to be taken to death row of the NBP in Muntinlupa City to await their execution by lethal injection. However, no date for execution has been set, and none has been carried out in the country since 2000.

Velasco, on the other hand, said a commitment order has already been issued by the court and all three will soon be transferred to the NBP.

Abdurrohim is presently detained at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig while Trinidad and Baharan are under custody of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces (ISAFP) compound at Camp Aguinaldo.

Before the three death convicts are taken in, Vinarao said Abdurrohim and the two Abu Sayyaf bandits will be subjected to routine medical and psychological check-up.

He said Abdurrohim will also join other foreign nationals now languishing on death row.

The NBP has currently 1,116 death row inmates with 31 more at the Correctional Institute for Women.

Vinarao said 172 of the sentences of the death row inmates, five of whom are women, have been affirmed by the Supreme Court and are considered ready for execution by lethal injection.

Vinarao assured that the maximum security compound, which will take Abdurrohim into custody, is "95 percent escape-proof."

He said an escaping inmate would literally find himself being toasted by a perimeter fence of barbed wires with live electric current.

Vinarao said a high wall will also prevent any escape. He said every prisoner is being monitored 24 hours by surveillance cameras.

"This is aside from the security personnel who are there manning the area," Vinarao said. "We are ready to take them in," he said referring to the three death convicts. - With Michael Punongbayan