DILG mum on Abu as bus blast suspect

MANILA, Philippines - Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo refused to confirm if an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf Group arrested last Thursday is actually a suspect in the bombing of a bus in Makati City last Jan. 25, which killed four persons and wounded over a dozen others.

The DILG clarified that Julane Luganao Sison, 34, a member of the Balik-Islam community of former Christians who converted to Islam, was arrested by virtue of an arrest warrant for murder in Mindanao and implicating him in the bus blast would be very premature.

“We are in the process of validating it. We are matching his picture to the old picture and the account of witnesses,” Robredo said.

Reports had it that Sison, believed to be responsible for the bus bombing on EDSA-Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City, was arrested in Lucena City on Thursday night, carrying items that could be assembled to make improvised explosive devices.

Officials of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines refused to issue statement on the arrest since Malacañang will make the official announcement. The Makati bus blast was one of the first terror attacks under the administration of President Aquino.

The report dated June 2, which was submitted by the Military Intelligence Group 4 (MIG4) and MIG17 to the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said Sison was taken the police headquarters in Lucena City for disposition.