4 Abus bolt Basilan jail

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Sixteen inmates, among them four Abu Sayyaf terrorists involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping in Palawan in 2001, escaped from the Basilan Provincial Jail in Isabela City before dawn yesterday.

Police identified the four Abu Sayyaf members as Enteng Anjil, Abu Sampang, Heting Askalin and Wakil Sampang.

The four were involved in the kidnapping of foreign and local tourists from the Dos Palmas resort and the siege in Lamitan, Basilan in 2001, police said.

The other 12 are Jipon Morales, Buyongbuyong Isneol, Gapur Jainal, Wakil Sampang, Jhon Jappal, Fernand Ramoncito;, Ernie Ajibun, Hussien Ajibun, Darkis Marisa,  Rahim Latip, Ibrahinmandos,  Basit Jabdali and Maman Pactong.

Only four guards were on duty at the time of the escape, according to jail warden Jumaril Sali.

Chief Inspector Christopher Panapan, assistant provincial police director, said the inmates sawed through iron bars and fled the jail in Barangay Sumagdang shortly after 3 a.m. yesterday.

The inmates were serving time for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, he added.

Col. Ramiro Alivio, 1st Marine Brigade commander, said troops and policemen in nearby provinces of Sulu, Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City have been alerted about the escapees.

“They are now the subject of our joint police and Marine manhunt,” he said.

Alivio said the escapees used their malong (a wrap-around cloth) as rope to rappel down their cell windows. The escape was only discovered by jail guards after an hour, he added.

The escapees might be hiding in the Sampinit Complex, the mountainous area that used to be a refuge of the Abu Sayyaf, Alivio said.

The jailbreak was the 25th this year in the country.

Basilan used to be an Abu Sayyaf stronghold before a 2002 US-backed offensive crippled the group and dispersed its leaders. – Roel Pareño, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Fritsche Bautista, AP