‘No collusion between Abu, Army officers in Lamitan’

CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac — Congress has found no substantive proof that certain military officers colluded with the Abu Sayyaf, as a Catholic priest had alleged, when the extremist rebels escaped from heavy guard in a hospital in Lamitan, Basilan on June 2, 2001.

In a press release, the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) quoted Rep. Prospero Pichay, chairman of the House committee on defense, as issuing such a statement when the Surigao del Sur solon visited its headquarters here recently.

The Nolcom’s commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, was one of five military officers whom Basilan priest Fr. Cirilo Nacorda accused of facilitating the escape of Abu Sayyaf rebels from the Lamitan hospital.

The Nolcom statement quoted Pichay as saying that Dominguez is "one of the finest officers of the Armed Forces today."

Both houses of Congress conducted joint hearings to investigate Nacorda’s allegations and heard the testimonies of at least 22 witnesses.

But Pichay, according to the statement, said that no witness gave "direct" evidence of any such collusion between the Abu Sayyaf and the military officers, and that lawmakers were "unanimous" in dismissing the accusations.

During the Lamitan incident, Dominguez was the commander of the Army’s 1st Tabak Division.

Others accused of conniving with the extremist group were Col. Jovenal Narcise, then the commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade and who is now also with Nolcom; his aides Captains Hubert Acierto and Nicolas Quemado; and Maj. Eliseo Campued, executive officer of the 18th Infantry Battalion.

Interest in the alleged military-Abu Sayyaf collusion was again ignited a few months ago when American missionary Gracia Burnham, a former Abu Sayyaf hostage, released her book, In the Presence of My Enemies.

Burnham’s husband Martin and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were killed during a military rescue operation.

Dominguez expressed gratitude to Pichay whom he recalled meeting for the first time in July 2001 during a congressional hearing on the Lamitan incident. — With Ding Cervantes