Mayor, son complicity in ransom scam upheld in Philippines

Manila: The justice department on Monday upheld the findings of a task force that a mayor and his son allegedly benefited from a local terror group that demanded 15 million pesos (Dh1.13 million) for the release of three broadcast journalists and an academic in the south four months ago.

In an 11-page resolution, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez affirmed the July 18 resolution of the National Prosecution Service-Task Force Anti-Kidnapping (NPS-TFAKR), which found probable cause to indict Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider for cooperating with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

The ASG had kidnapped ABS-CBN news anchor Cecilia "Ces" Orena-Drilon, TV crew Jimmyfred Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo on June 8.

The justice department agreed with the findings of the task force that the Isnajis were in cahoots with ASG, a group with active links to the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.

In a 27-page resolution in July, the task force said the Isnajis pocketed 3 million pesos of the 15 million pesos ransom paid to the ASG.

"If indeed, it was Mayor Isnaji's sincere desire to stick to the 'no ransom policy' of the government, his act of demanding the immediate release of the 15 million pesos from Philippine National Police Provincial Director Julasirim Kasim showed he was more interested in the money than anything else," the task force said.

The Isnajis "knew about the delivery of the ransom to the exclusion of the other law enforcement agencies concerned," said the task force.