Abu Sabaya is not alive - army chief

The Philippine military yesterday denied the recent claim of a parish priest in Basilan, that Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya is still alive, his group intact and is planning more abductions to embarrass the government.

"We received information they (Abu Sayyaf camp) would use his (Abu Sabaya's) brother, who looked very much like him, to deceive the public to believe he is still around. The report we got said his brother would even use props to make him look like the dead bandit," said armed forces chief of staff Gen. Roy Cimatu.

"Father Nacorda is into a disinformation campaign. From day one, we anticipated rumours like this. We respect whatever he says, but we do not believe in them because he did not see Abu Sabaya. We believe Abu Sabaya is dead," said Cimatu.

National Security Council head Roy Golez said: "It's saddening. He told the media Abu Sabaya is alive when he has no evidence. What is alive can be heard and can be seen."

These are "recycled stories that he (Nacorda) could not substantiate," said Golez.

The government said Abu Sabaya, whose real name was Aldam Tilao, was killed after a clash with U.S.-trained Filipino soldiers on board a speedboat off the coast of Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte on June 21. His body was never recovered after a three-day search.

President Gloria Arroyo ended the search, saying the death of Abu Sabaya has made the Abu Sayyaf a spent force. U.S. officials also said the same thing although four other Abu Sayyaf leaders have not been arrested or killed during the six-month U.S.-Philippine wargames which ended on July 31.

Abu Sabaya surfaced in his birthplace, in Balas village, Malamawi, Lamitan, with a certain Amir. He allegedly stayed there until June 22, said Nacorda in a press conference in Manila on Thursday.

The following day, he was seen at a festivity, which was held by his relatives to celebrate something good that has happened, in Tuburan municipality, Basilan, Nacorda said.

Sabaya reportedly stayed in Tuburan until June 26, although he did not often come out in the open despite the presence of many Abu Sayyaf sympathisers in the area, Nacorda said.

On June 27, Sabaya was seen with Abu Sayyaf leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Hamsiraji Sali in lower Kapayawan in Isabela City, the capital of Basilan. The Abu Sayyaf regrouped for the first time since the June 21 encounter with government soldiers, Nacorda said.

A witness has claimed that Abu Sabaya knocked on the door of his house in lower Kapayawan at 3am on June 27, along with other Abu Sayyaf members, said Nacroda, adding the source heard the Abu Sayyaf members discussing plans when they would strike again.

"He was last seen in Maluso, Basilan two weeks ago. He has not been sighted since.

"There is no malice in this. I am simply telling the truth. I trust my source," said Nacorda, adding he got the information from a "reliable" doctor whose friends saw Abu Sabaya in Basilan.

Some of the witnesses were sympathisers of the bandit group. The source was a former hostage of the Abu Sayyaf bandits in 1993, who receives reports from villager friends in Basilan.

Abu Sabaya is "alive and his group intact," Nacorda concluded, but added he himself has not seen Abu Sabaya.

Nacorda , the parish priest of St. Peter parish in Lamitan, Basilan, was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf for two months in 1994. Last year, Abu Sayyaf members broke into his parish to kill him but they only found his acolyte and driver and killed them.

Nacorda exposed at the senate and House of Representatives this year the alleged connivance of some military men and Abu Sayyaf leaders, which paved the way for the ransom payment of $490,000 (P25 million) by three of the 20 hostages who were kidnapped by the group in a resort in Palawan, southwestern Philippines, on May 27, 2001.

The collusion was one reason why troops allowed the Abu Sayyaf group to escape with their hostages, including four others at the hospital in Lamitan on June 1, said Nacroda. Several days later, the group managed to kidnap 15 other farmers in a farm in Lamitan.

Cimatu said he would convene a court-martial to investigate three top ranking military men as the senate suggested after Nacorda's expose.