Kidnap raps eyed vs MSU prof

MANILA, Philippines – Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo, who was kidnapped along with ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and her crew by the Abu Sayyaf for 10 days in Sulu, may now be considered a suspect after he issued a third supplemental affidavit, indicating that Indanan, Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider were not involved in the kidnapping, police said.

Senior  Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, chief investigator of the case, said he and other investigators were surprised to hear from     Dinampo’s legal counsel Alberto Din that he is now a witness for the Isnajis.

Coronel said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) invited Dinampo to Camp Crame yesterday to attend the third hearing of the preliminary investigation on the kidnapping for ransom case against the Isnajis and to affirm his two affidavits linking the father and son to the incident.

“We’re surprised to hear that he (Dinampo) would testify for the Isnajis. We were not expecting he would submit a third affidavit,” said Coronel. “We will study his third affidavit. He (Dinampo) may now be considered a suspect.”

Din, meantime, welcomed the possibility of charges being filed against his client.

“Well and good, we will find out the truth. This guy (Dinampo) is a very peaceful loving guy,” he said.

Coronel said Dinampo’s first two affidavits have, in effect, substantiated the affidavit of Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy  Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama on the possibility of the involvement of the Isnajis in the kidnapping.

Coronel maintained that the government will still have a strong case against the Isnajis despite Dinampo’s virtual support of the suspects. “We still have a number of other witnesses to support the charges against the Isnajis,” he said.

The Isnajis have denied any knowledge on the kidnapping, and stressed that they should be lauded for their efforts in helping negotiate for the release of the victims.

Even Drilon, who religiously attended the previous hearings of the preliminary investigation of the case, admitted that she was also surprised to hear that Dinampo would testify for the Isnajis.

“I thought what he (Dinampo) came here for is to pinpoint that (Juamil) Mameng Biyaw betrayed us, he feels that Mameng has not told everything. He wants Mameng Biyaw to be charged also,” Drilon told reporters shortly after the hearing for the continuation of the preliminary investigation being conducted by prosecution panel from the Department of Justice.

Biyaw is now considered a witness after he issued a statement implicating the mayor and his son in the kidnapping, which ended reportedly after some P20 million in ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

Although her affidavit and the testimonies of Valderama and Encarnacion were all considered circumstantial, Drilon said the information they gathered from the police and other individuals involved in their release gave them an idea of what really happened during their captivity.

“Initially the  kidnappers were mad at us when they learned that our family would give only P2 million when they were demanding P5 million, that they even threatened to behead Jimmy and Angelo,” she said.

Drilon said she was later told by Senior Superintendent Winnie Quidato, a police undercover agent, that only P2 million was delivered to the kidnappers and the Isnajis kept the P3 million.

Meanwhile, the Isnajis’ legal counsel, Joventino Diamante, welcomed the affidavit of Dinampo supporting the innocence of his clients.

“We might use Dinampo’s statement in our defense,” said Diamante.

In his five-page affidavit, Dinampo said “he consistently claimed that Mayor Isnaji and Haider are absolutely innocent of the kidnapping, that they had nothing to do with it and it is very unfair and unreasonable to charge them of such offense which they never committed.”

Dinampo said the Isnajis came into the picture two days after he and Drilon’s team were abducted last June 8.

He said the kidnappers maintained that they will not entertain negotiations through politicians, whom they do not trust but later decided to tap Mayor Isnaji upon learning that Drilon’s family persisted on designating Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidullah.

“That Sali Suaib, one of the kidnappers, mentioned the name of Mayor Isnaji but since they did not have the contact number of the mayor, they thought of other politicians. That Suaib tried to contact his friend in Zamboanga City by the name of Toots who he said is a friend of  Haider Isnaji, son of the mayor. That Suaib got the number of Haider from Toots and through Haider, the kidnappers got the contact number of Mayor Isnaji,” Dinampo added.

“The kidnappers even had a hard time in deciding and contacting the Isnajis to stand as their negotiator; that Mayor Alvarez Isnaji even got mad at the kidnappers when the latter demanded for ransom,” he also said.

Dinampo added that he earlier confusedly declared that Mameng was also a kidnap victim.

“Mameng was not really a victim but in fact part of the kidnapping team as shown by his acts,” he said.

The DOJ prosecution panel set on Friday the final hearing for the preliminary investigation before the case is submitted for resolution on whether or not probable cause exists to warrant the filing of charges in court against the Isnajis.