Riot at Bagong Diwa: 4 Abus hurt

Four suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf group were wounded in a riot among warring gangs at the Metro Manila District Jail (MMDJ) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City Sunday night.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists Iraji Isnaji, Ibrahim Upao Musa, Daud Daru and Viki Ekong, who were detained at the MMDJ-south sector, were among the 14 inmates hurt in the incident.

According to a report by the Agence France Press, the four suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists were treated for stab wounds after battling with criminal gangs inside the jail.

"These Christian and Muslim inmates have a long-standing feud," an MMDJ spokesman told the AFP. "They are always trying to outdo each other. There was no attempted jailbreak. It was purely a riot."

MMDJ south sector jail warden Superintendent Edgar Bolcio said Isnaji sustained a single gunshot wound in the right thigh while Musa, Daru and Ekong suffered minor injuries to the face, chest and arms, respectively, after splinters hit them during an exchange of gunfire between the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik Gang and the Bahala Na Gang.

The rest of the inmate-victims were identified as Joel Dungo, 31; John Ambrosio, 28; Rolando Advincula, 23; Allan Mamaluba, 26; Marvin Sandoval, 22; Julius Felix, 35; and Omar Soon, 30. They were all treated at the MMDJ Infirmary after sustaining minor injuries.

Isnaji, Musa, Daru and Ekong were brought to the Rizal Medical Center for treatment. They were returned to the jail around 12 midnight.

The encounter between the rival jail gangs on the second floor of the Special Intensive Care Administration building of the MMDJ-Manila Sector happened at 5:45 p.m.

Bolcio said he was about to conduct a head count of the south sector inmates when reports of an ongoing riot in the Manila sector reached him.

He said he immediately proceeded to the Manila sector and ordered his men to pacify several detainees armed with knives and an undetermined number of guns.

MMDJ-Manila sector supervisor Chief Inspector Ruel Rivera said they are still conducting investigation to determine who instigated the riot and pinpoint who were armed and to determine how the inmates gained access to guns.

Police spokesman Agrimero Cruz said dozens of knives and improvised weapons were confiscated from hundreds of prisoners.

"The riot started from a very minor misunderstanding over some petty things between a Muslim and a Christian inmate," Cruz said. "We’re still getting to the root of the problem. We’re also trying to determine how the improvised weapons were smuggled inside the jail."

Police and jail officials said they restored order after nearly two hours of bloody rioting with warning shots and water hoses.

The entire MMDJ prison complex is now on red alert as a result of the incident.

In March 2005, a deadly prison riot took place at the Camp Bagong Diwa Jail, leaving 22 suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits and a policeman dead.

The Abu Sayyaf bandit group is believed to have links to both the Southeast Asia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group and Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network.

It is a group of some 500 self-styled Muslim guerrillas, which has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist outrages in the Philippines, including the firebombing of a ferry two years ago that left over 100 people dead.

Authorities believe the Abu Sayyaf was set up in the early 1990s with seed funds provided by bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Both Washington and Manila consider the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist organization. — With AFP, AP