ZAMBOANGA CITY—Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) bomber Dulmatin, whose complete name is Amar Usmanan, spearheaded the abduction of a priest-director and a teacher of a Catholic-run secondary school last month in the province of Tawi-Tawi.

This was disclosed by Alfa Moha, 28, a former member of the JI and al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group. Moha recently surrendered to the military authorities stationed in Tawi-Tawi.

“I was waiting at the motorized banca when Dulmatin and the others barged into the school. While waiting, I heard gunshots,” Moha speaking in the vernacular told reporters in front of military officials and personnel at the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) headquarters.

He was presented to reporters at the Wesmincom’s command information office on Tuesday afternoon by Wesmincom deputy chief Brig. Gen. Ricardo Garcia.

Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) priest, Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, the director of Notre Dame High School on Tabawan Island, South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, was killed about 8:30 p.m. on January 15 while his companion, Omar Taup, a teacher, was hogtied and brought by Dulmatin’s group.

The group, numbering around 10 people, barged into the Notre Dame compound with the intention of kidnapping Fr. Roda, but killed the priest when he resisted.

Moha claimed no knowledge where Taup is being held hostage, saying he disengaged from Dulmatin’s group just after the January 31st clash with military troops on the island town of Panglima Sugala.

He said he left the group after realizing that what they are doing is not good, and surrendered to the military in Tawi-Tawi on Thursday last week.

A bandit leader named Wahab Opao was killed during that encounter that ensued about 5:30 a.m. when the troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-2 (MBLT-2) caught up with the bandits in sitio Lobbok, barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala town.

The captors of Taup have demanded a P1-million ransom in exchange for his release.

Moha confirmed that Dulmatin, who they call Bin, was wounded in the January 31 clash but was able to escape from pursuing military troops.

Moha said Dulmatin befriended and enticed him to join the group when they met last month in sitio Lobbok, barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala.

“I was with the group for 25 days,” he said.

He is in the custody of the military in this city.

On Monday combined military and police operatives have exhumed a body believed to be that of Dulmatin and subjected it to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test.

The body was buried on Tuesday afternoon in a cemetery in this city following proper Muslim rites at the Mosque of Wesmincom.

The US government is offering up to $10-million reward for the capture of Dulmatin, who, along with another JI bomber Umar Patek, was tagged as the masterminds in bombing a Bali resort in Indonesia in 2002 that killed 202 people, mostly tourists.

Dulmatin is believed to be with the Abu Sayyaf group since 2003 and was involved in providing explosive expertise and training other militants.

Patek, who is also believed to be with the Abu Sayyaf bandits, has a $1 million reward being offered by the US government through the Rewards of Justice Program.

Palace: Conditions not conducive for ‘Edsa’; police on normal alert

Malacañang said on Wednesday that present conditions in the country are not conducive to a successful people power bid, and again urged President Arroyo’s detractors to just wait for the next national polls in 2010 to change the leadership.

A senior Roman Catholic bishop is hoping that the February 29 interfaith prayer rally would lead to President Arroyo’s resignation as various groups come together in response to the clergy’s call for “communal action” and a “brand-new people power.”

DAVAO CITY—US Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Murad Ebrahim had a historic meeting on Tuesday in the MILF camp in Maguindanao, but both sides declined to divulge the subject of their meeting.

THE Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando (MMO) River System—tagged recently as one of the world’s dirtiest—finally faces rehabilitation with the help of the environment department, local government units (LGUs), other concerned government agencies and private institutions.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) bomber Dulmatin, whose complete name is Amar Usmanan, spearheaded the abduction of a priest-director and a teacher of a Catholic-run secondary school last month in the province of Tawi-Tawi.

DAVAO CITY—The Indonesian vice consul said he would favor stationing Indonesian antiterrorist troops here to help clamp down on the suspected traffic of Indonesian terror suspects believed to be hiding or getting their training in Southern Philippines.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The two-day Second Tripartite Meeting among the government, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Organization of Islamic Conference  ended with an agreement to formulate “possible proposals” to amend the law on Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to ensure the full implementation of the 1996 peace pact with MNLF.

THE “ecosystem of corruption” and “oligarchy” that prevails in the government is well-embedded in the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), agrarian-reform groups said.