Kidnapping suspect accuses military

Three enlisted men under an intelligence officer of the 104th Army Brigade were behind the abduction of two recently freed TV journalists in the southern Philippines, said a suspected kidnapper who has been arrested for the abduction.

GMA-7 reporter Carlo Lorenzo and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales were kidnapped by Corporal Mohammed Ailani and two intelligence officers, former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters who were integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1996, according to Hadja Jarma Imran, also known as Hadja Lyn.

One of these "integrees" was a member of the Jolo Internal Defence Security Group under Lt Abe Sirajan. All of them were working for Captain Alex Musngue, an intelligence officer based in Zamboanga City.

Imran said she learned about the identities of the kidnappers from the new commander of the brigade, Colonel Alexander Aleo, who was investigating the kidnapping. The two journalists were abducted from Kagay village in Indanan on September 28 and released on October 3.

Imran, a former real estate broker who has been working with the military for the surrender of MNLF members, said Corporal Norbi Alawan, a military escort provided to her, was not involved in the kidnapping of the journalists.

Five months ago, Brigadier General Romeo Tolentino, former head of the 104th Army Brigade, provided Corporal Alawan, an "integree" from the Jolo Internal Defence Force, as her escort.

But on September 30, the brigade ordered the transfer of Alawan, Imran said. Just before that, Alawan told Imran that Musngue had sent him on a mission to Bato-Bato village to get Ailani.

He said Musngue had advised him not to talk to anyone after this mission. Imran said she had broken her silence since Sulu Governor Yusop Jikiri had been saying that the soldiers assigned to her were behind the kidnapping.

Imran said that her "escorts are being used as sacrificial lambs by the military."