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| Southeast Asia |
| 33 JI members operating in JI as of December 2004 |
| 2005-10-13 |
| There were 33 Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members operating in the country as of the end of last year, according to a report that Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz has submitted to the House appropriations committee. "All of the JI were Indonesians," Cruz told the committee chaired by Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. on Tuesday night, when the panel heard the proposed P45.1-billion budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) for 2006. He said the JI cell in the country is called "Wakalah Hedeibiah" and is led by a certain "Mantiqui 3." Quoting Cruz’s report, Andaya said the military was able to monitor the entry routes of the JI terrorists that led to the arrest of some of its members. Two of those arrested were identified as Sammy Abdulgani, alias "Harrison," and one Abdullah Jordan, he said. Andaya said he and members of his committee did not press Cruz for the identities of the JI operatives "as it might jeopardize ongoing operations against the group and unduly tip off the targets." "We took their assurance that they have a profile on these terrorists and that they are pursuing them. We are interested in the end result, not in works in progress," he said. To encourage citizens to report on the activities of terrorists, the appropriations committee, as with previous budgets, would include a provision in the 2006 outlay that would authorize the chief of the staff of the Armed Forces, upon recommendation of the defense secretary and subject to the approval of the President, to allocate savings to pay rewards to tipsters. Jemaah Islamiyah has been tagged as the Southeast Asian network of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization and is reported to have links with armed groups in Mindanao and even training grounds in the island. JI’s latest attack was the Oct. 1 bombing of the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, the second such attack since 2002. It was reported that two Bali bombers were hiding in camps controlled by the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao. The United States is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest Dulmati, one of the two suspects. It was also reported recently that a suspect in the London train and subway blasts had visited Mindanao. It was not clear from Cruz’s report whether the suspects were among the terrorists that the military is monitoring. The DND budget includes a P5-billion "modernization fund," but Andaya said none of the money for now would be set aside to purchase new jets to replace the grounded fleet of the Philippine Air Force, which has retired its 1960s-era F-5s. "Our Air Force will continue to be all air, no force. They intend to use the modernization fund to modernize the equipment of our foot soldiers," he said. Approval of the combined budget of the DND and the military was nearly derailed when Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras threatened to block its passage. Paras complained that last Tuesday, he was on his way to the Batasan area in Quezon City from Makati when he encountered traffic along EDSA near Camp Aguinaldo. To skirt the congested road stretch, he wanted to make a short cut through the military camp, but the soldier manning the side gate along White Plains Avenue would not let him in despite introducing himself as a congressman because his car did not have a Camp Aguinaldo sticker. It was only when Cruz promised to personally look into the matter that an angry Paras relented. But committee members told journalists later they would have voted down their colleague’s proposal as derailing the DND-military budget approval over such a small matter would have embarrassed them all. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |