‘Witch-hunt’ vs Muslim groups feared

from the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Last updated 06:16am (Mla time) 10/23/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A Mindanao-based party-list group on Monday expressed fears of a government “witch-hunt” in Muslim communities following reports that the Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM) has owned up to the Glorietta 2 blast on Friday.

Anak Mindanao (Amin) party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman called on the authorities to conduct a thorough probe into the blast and not just center their investigation on Islamic rebel groups.

The congressman said Amin shares the skepticism of some sectors that the RSRM was behind the explosion.

“We fear that in the haste to solve the case, it will just be attributed to extremist Islamic groups, resulting in indiscriminate arrests and justifying another crackdown, the target of which will be mostly Mindanaoans, particularly Muslims,” Hataman said.

The Rajah Solaiman group, reportedly a radical group of Islam converts, was linked to the bombing of the SuperFerry in 2004, and the Valentine’s Day bus bombings in 2005.

The RSRM group allegedly claimed the recent mall bombing in a text message to a reporter of the ABS-CBN network.

Police have also expressed reservations on the reported claim by a certain “Sheik Omar” that the RSRM was responsible for the Glorietta mall blast.

The Rajah Solaiman Movement is already inactive and is unlikely to have perpetrated the explosion at the Glorietta 2, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias said Monday.

“The results of our investigation show that RSRM has been rendered inactive with the arrest (since 2002) of 12 core members, including its leaders,” said Barias.

He added that one of the two remaining and known members, Ruben Omar Lavilla alias “Shiek Omar,” is believed to be hiding in the Middle East. Another member Khalil Pareja alias Dino Amor, is also believed to be hiding in Central Mindanao.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Task Force Sanlahi deputy chief Senior Superintendent Ager Ontog said the RSRM’s founder Hilarion “Ahmad” Santos is behind bars.

PNP Chief Director General Avelino Razon had also said that an arrested member of the RSRM told them that the voice in the telephone calls did not belong to Sheik Omar, the alleged spiritual leader of the group.

However, police stressed that they were still not ruling out the RSRM and are coordinating with international intelligence agencies to gather more information.

In March 2005, police raided an RSRM safe house in Fairview, Quezon City and seized 600,000 kilos of chemicals used to make bombs.

Norman Bordadora and Alcuin Papa, with Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao

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