Terror suspect disappears after posting bail, military says

A Muslim convert detained earlier this year for hoarding a huge explosives cache and allegedly plotting bombings has jumped bail and disappeared, the military said yesterday.

Deputy military intelligence chief Rear Admiral Tirso Danga expressed alarm at the authorities’ inability to find Tyrone Santos, also known as Dawud Santos. He was detained in March for allegedly plotting to bomb Manila’s tourist district during the Easter holidays.

Santos posted bail worth P200,000 in April, apparently with the help of a local media personality. He has since failed to follow the terms of his provisional liberty, including regularly reporting his whereabouts to the authorities, Danga added.

Authorities detained the suspect’s elder brother, Hilarion del Rosario Santos, in Zamboanga City last week. He is accused of leading the Rajah Solaiman Movement, which authorities describe as a group of Muslim converts allied to the Abu Sayyaf group.

The Abu Sayyaf, a group of Islamic militants blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines, is part of the US State Department’s blacklist of "foreign terrorist organizations."

Tyrone Santos, Hilarion’s younger brother, is "nowhere to be seen," Danga told reporters.

"Right now, we do not know where (Tyrone) Dawud Santos is. We can’t find him," Danga added.

Authorities had seized about 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds) of explosives from the younger brother in a suburban Manila hideout in late March, but he posted bail at a lower court in the northern city of Tarlac on April 26.

President Arroyo’s security aides have named the journalist who allegedly helped pay the bail bond as Julius Babao, a presenter at leading Manila broadcast outfit ABS-CBN. Babao and the network denied the allegation.

Danga said that despite the terror plot, the younger Santos was able to post bail due to the absence of an anti-terrorism law.

The President has been pressing parliament to pass the measure, which would allow the extended detention of terror suspects.

"You will notice that we have been fighting an enemy that uses the very democracy that they are trying to destroy as their refuge," Danga said. — AFP, Jaime Laude