Ping, Remulla linked to Vietnamese ‘bombers’

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, two of his proteges, and former Cavite Governor Juanito Remulla were linked to the group of suspected Vientamese bombers arrested by the police for their attempt to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy, it was learned yesterday.

Intelligence agents confirmed to the Department of Justice that Florinda Estrada, owner of the condominium unit where the bombers were arrested last Aug. 30, had links with the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

Estrada was included in the charges the DOJ filed against Vo Van Duc alias Vinh Nguyen Tan, 41, a Vietnamese-American, Huynh Thuan Ngoc alias Tom, 42, a Swiss-Vientamese, and Japanese Makoto Ito, 62, for unlawful possession of explosives.

She is a co-owner of the Gloria Maris chain of restaurant in Metro Manila. Estrada was also a "former Women’s Auxiliary Corps. (member) assigned with the defunct Military Intelligence Security Group." She was once a secretary of the late Rolando Abadilla.

Sources say she also served "primarily as administrator of real property acquired through fraudulent means" by former PAOCTF officials Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao, and Remulla, a known political warlord in the province of Cavite.

The same report alleged that Estrada and Lacson were "silent business partners managing thousands of hectares of land belonging to Marcos cronies and that the titles of these were manipulated to be transferred through dubious means to Estrada."

All of this was contained in a confidential report – which reporters obtained – prepared by State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, who forwarded it to Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida and Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.

The two-page confidential report did not bear the names of Lacson, Remulla, Aquino and Mancao, but highly-reliable sources in the intelligence community say that they were the ones being referred to in the report.

Among the items police seized in condominium unit 17 at Sylvana Townhomes in Barangay Sta. Lucia in San Juan were three plastic bags of ammonium nitrate; eight pieces of Coleman water jugs; 14 pieces of electrical relay.

Three rolls of legwires with improvised blasting caps, electrical, packing, and mounting tapes: one Nokia 3210 cellular phone; one improvised explosive device with booster detonating cord and assorted electronic wiring were also seized.

The PNP tagged Vo Van Doc as a member of the Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group, said to be the military arm of the Government of Free Vietnam – an organization for the liberation of Vietnam from communist rule.

Vo is believed to be the head of an international terrorist cell operating in Manila. The police also said Vo is wanted by the Royal Thai Police for his alleged part in the foiled bombing of the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok last June 19, 2001.

Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the alleged links of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network to the three arrested suspected Vietnamese bombers who attempted to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy in Manila.