Biazon sees pattern in 2 Basilan debacles



By Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer
Last updated 00:42am (Mla time) 08/18/2007


A SPAN Of six years separates the debacles suffered by government troops in Al-Barka and Lamitan, both in Basilan, but they are linked in some way, according to Sen. Rodolfo Biazon.
A former chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Biazon made the connection between the ambush in Al-Barka (formerly Tipo-Tipo) on July 10, and the siege of Lamitan on June 2, 2001, after a meeting with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV at the latter's detention cell in Fort Bonifacio Friday morning.
Biazon later told reporters he was convinced that the Senate should investigate Trillanes' claim that a conspiracy among "ranking government officials" had led to the killing of 14 Marines and the beheading of 10 of them in a seven-hour ambush of a military convoy in Al-Barka.
But Biazon, who chairs the Senate committee on national security and defense, said he had also told Trillanes that the witnesses should formally present their accusations.
Trillanes, a former Navy lieutenant accused of coup d'etat for leading the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, filed on Tuesday a resolution seeking a Senate inquiry into "insider information" that Palace officials had had a hand in the Al-Barka ambush.
"In our discussion, [the information] seemed to [indicate that] there might have been a relation between the [Al-Barka] incident and the Lamitan incident--almost the same circumstances, the same results, in the fact that soldiers were killed," Biazon said.
"There is a parallelism," he said.
Surrounded
On June 2, 2001, scores of fleeing Abu Sayyaf bandits were surrounded by government troops in the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital compound in Lamitan.
But after several hours of heavy fighting, all the cornered bandits managed to escape with their hostages, leaving a number of soldiers killed.
It was later alleged that ranking military officials had held back the troops and delayed reinforcements to allow the bandits to escape. Congress investigated the alleged collusion but in the end, no military official was found liable.
"In Lamitan, wasn't there a reinforcement order by the brigade commander [that was] countermanded? There are other parallelisms I cannot discuss at this point," Biazon said Friday.
Biazon said the Senate should look into Trillanes' allegation of a conspiracy behind the Al-Barka ambush in the wake of similar claims made by other military officials.
He was referring to the Philippine Daily Inquirer report on Aug. 17 quoting an unnamed general who claimed that a key political figure in Basilan had had a hand in the incident, and was using the military for his own ends against the Abu Sayyaf.
Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, the former governor of the province, had denied having anything to do with the killings, and identified four alleged Abu Sayyaf members as responsible for the beheadings.
Some officials responsible
Biazon said it appeared that certain officials were responsible for the soldiers' deaths. "That is not my conclusion; this is coming out from news items," he said, refusing to elaborate.
The fighting between government troops and Moro insurgents in Basilan has since spilled over to Sulu. Exactly a month after the 14 Marines were killed, 26 soldiers died in ambushes and encounters in Sulu.
"What is happening now in Sulu is a consequence of what happened in Basilan," Biazon said, referring to the redeployment of troops from Basilan to Sulu to go after the perpetrators of the brutal killings on July 10.
Biazon said Trillanes had given him a fairly good idea of the identities of the ranking officials who supposedly machinated the Al-Barka ambush, as well as the witnesses.
"Trillanes shared with me much information that was not written in his resolution, information so sensitive that at this point, the identities of [the involved] officials are best left unpublished," Biazon said.
He declined to answer when asked how high in rank these officials were.
He also refused to say how many witnesses there were, but said Trillanes had indicated that "some are soldiers and some are civilians."
"At the moment, the indication is that the witnesses are willing to come out and testify," he said.
Witnesses' security
Biazon said the information that Trillanes had provided so far could serve as basis for holding committee hearings.
"But I need more than this, at least something that can be made formal. We have to know whom to call," he said.
From the information he has gathered, Biazon is considering holding an executive session to protect the witnesses.
He said he would wait for Trillanes to tell the witnesses to submit sworn statements. "Otherwise, I will seek them out."
Biazon said the witnesses had spoken only with Trillanes. "To me, the main factor is the security of these people because the information shared is very sensitive," he said.
He also insisted on having Trillanes attend the committee hearings. He said he would suggest to the other committee members that the hearings be held at the Marine brig just so the latter could participate.
"This is a serious issue that affects not only the morale of the soldiers...." Biazon said.
He said that if it would not be resolved, he hoped it would not result in "certain consequences that could destabilize the AFP."
Trillanes has been barred by the Makati Regional Trial Court from attending Senate sessions.
No way
At a news briefing in Camp Aguinaldo, AFP information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said the ground commanders in Basilan would not "allow themselves to be used" by politicians, as the unnamed general had claimed to the Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
"No commander in his right mind would allow his men to get into a situation that would harm them," Bacarro said.
Told that it was Trillanes who had first made the claim that the Marine troops were "fed to the enemy," Bacarro said the detained senator might have sources telling him so, "but that's not happening."
"Because once you go out with your troops, you become responsible for their families as well," he said.
Asked whether the allegation was just an intrigue against the AFP, Bacarro said there might be some groups wanting to cause a rift within the military.
"But I'm happy to say these efforts will continue to fail because our soldiers, especially the Marines, are focused on their mandate," Bacarro said. "There have always been efforts to create that sense of divisiveness, but I would like to say that the AFP remains one solid organization, and we will not allow such a thing to happen."
With a report from Christine O. Avendaño