GMA gets false info on surrender

Was she under the weather or was she fed wrong information?

President Arroyo announced yesterday that a fugitive leader of the notorious Pentagon gang had surrendered.

The only problem was that the fugitive, Faisal Marohombsar, later rang up a radio station and announced that he had not yet given up.

Marohombsar had escaped from the headquarters of the Philippine National Police a few weeks ago, and the President was clearly pleased to announce her news.

"I’m happy to inform you that one of those obstructions to peace — he is none other than Faisal Marohombsar — is now in the hands of the authorities," Mrs. Arroyo told Saranggani residents during a ceremonies marking their province’s 33rd founding anniversary.

In a radio interview afterwards, Mrs. Arroyo said Marohombsar surrendered after talks with a government emissary.

Afew minutes later, however, an aghast Marohombsar called dzMM radio in Manila to say that negotiations for his surrender were still being conducted by his lawyer, Firdausi Abbas.

"I have not surrendered yet, but our group is planning to surrender to the President," he said, adding that 100 of his henchmen are also set to give themselves up.

Marohombsar also set conditions for his surrender, among them visitation rights for his family and lawyer without prior clearance, being moved to the custody of military intelligence and for the court to act on his petition to be granted bail.

Marohombsar is believed to be hiding somewhere in Lanao del Norte.

However, he stressed that he is a changed man and wants to reform.

When informed by reporters about Marohombsar’s radio interview, a red-faced Mrs. Arroyo ordered aides to call up her adviser for special concerns, Norberto Gonzales.

"Call up Bert Gonzales because he was the one who finally was able to get Marohombsar," Mrs. Arroyo, who is known to have occasional temper tantrums, barked.

When Mrs. Arroyo spoke to Gonzales within hearing distance of reporters, she learned he was still scheduled to receive Marohombsar. "Hello, Bert. Is Faisal with you?" she asked.

Gonzales said he was awaiting the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco to arrive in Manila before picking up Marohombsar from an undisclosed location.

Gonzales also denied he was the source of the report that Marohombsar had surrendered.

"So it will be this afternoon? I announced it already," Mrs. Arroyo was heard saying with a laugh in the telephone conversation. "I don’t want to withhold the announcement," she later said.

Because of the unexpected turn of events, Mrs. Arroyo told reporters that Marohombsar was ready to turn himself in. She said "there will be no hitches" in the expected surrender of Marohombsar despite the premature announcement.

Realizing that she might be misquoted by the press, Mrs. Arroyo immediately sent Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant for Mindanao, to do the explaining.

"The President could have been informed out of context about Marohombsar’s surrender," Dureza said, appealing to reporters not to blow up the presidential embarassment out of proportion.

It was not immediately known where the information about Marohombsar’s "surrender" came from.

One of the country’s most wanted, Marohombsar was captured on Feb. 16 and escaped on June 19 in what became a major embarassment for Mrs. Arroyo’s government.

Marohombsar escaped came after the heels of Mrs. Arroyo’s order to PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane to curb the kidnapping spree in the country.

Marohombsar’s group, composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who turned to banditry, is considered a terrorist group by the United States.

The gang gained notoriety for kidnapping foreigners for ransom and has been linked to the kidnapping of a South Korean man, an Italian priest and several Chinese in recent years.

The Italian and South Korean were freed unharmed but two of the Chinese were killed in a botched rescue attempt.

In her second State of the Nation Address last Monday, Mrs. Arroyo declared terrorism and criminality as "enemies of the State" and threats to national security.

The Pentagon gang is among the 21 most notorious kidnap groups that the national police had made as top targets in the government’s renewed crackdown against kidnapping.

Mrs. Arroyo said the police will use "military-style" operations in hunting down kidnap gangs. — Marichu Villanueva, John Paul Jubelag, John Unson, AFP