SPORTS/ C3
SITYODTONG WANTS ONE UNITED ASIA
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VOL. XXX • NO. 351 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
MILITARY PURSUES HURT ABU LEADER By Francisco Tuyay
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BU Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who has been designated “amir of Southeast Asia” by the terror group Daesh, has been seriously wounded in military airstrikes in Butig, Lanao del Sur, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Saturday. Lorenzana said Hapilon was “seriously wounded” in military air strikes on Wednesday and was being carried on a stretcher as they flee pursuing government troops. “As of [Friday, Hapilon] is still being carried by four men in a makeshift stretcher moving northeast of Butig,” Lorenzana told AFP. “Troops are in hot pursuit supported by ground artillery and air support.” Lorenzana added the military
offensive killed four of Hapilon’s companions including an Indonesian he identified only as “Mohisen.” The 50-year-old Hapilon was indicted in Washington for his involvement in the 2001 kidnapping of Americans in the Philippines, and has a $5-million bounty on his head from the US government. The Abu Sayyaf kidnapped American missionary couple Mar-
tin and Gracia Burnham and Peruvian-American tourist Guillermo Sobero from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan. They were brought to Sulu, the Abu Sayyaf’s main stronghold in Mindanao. The following year, Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse, Ediborah Yap were killed in a government rescue operation. Sobero was later beheaded and Gracia was able to escape. Hapilon has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, or Daesh, which named him “amir for Southeast Asia,” according to a 2016 report by the Jakarta-based thinktank Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict. “Southeast Asians in Syria have pledged their loyalty to him,” the report said. Hapilon was based in Basilan but Lorenzana said this week that he had moved to Lanao del Sur in
a bid to establish an IS presence there and is “trying to rally” cooperation from the Maute group, another gang which had pledged allegiance to IS. On Friday, policemen arrested a sub-leader of the notorious Abu Sayyaf at his hiding place in Zamboanga City. The suspect was identified as Faizal Jaafar, who was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest at around 12:30 p.m. by combined police and military operatives. Jaafar is suspected to be involved in kidnapping and serious illegal detention (87 counts) in connection with the Sipadan kidnapping incident in 2001. Military sources said Jaafar was being enticed by Hapilon to join him in Central Mindanao, particularly in Butig town in Lanao del Sur, where he had been hiding since December last year. Turn to A2
WORLD / B4
TRUMP: NO VISAS FOR 7 MUSLIM COUNTRIES
GADGETS / D4
HUAWEI MATE 9: FAST IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT
MANHUNT UP VS JEE SLAY SUSPECT By Francisco Tuyay
SECURITY OPERATION. Government troops secure the perimeter of Butig town in Lanao del Sur where top Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon was reported to have been injured after continuing military operations. Mark Navales
ARMS FOUND IN FUGITIVE MAYOR’S HIDEOUT AT LEAST seven supporters of fugitive Mayor Rasul Sangki of Ampatuan, Maguindanao were killed while five others were wounded in continuing police and military operations against the local official accused of narcotics trafficking. Muslim Mindanao regional police director Chief Supt. Reuben Sindac reported the casualties a
day after combined security forces found on Friday an illegal cache of high-powered weapons and ammunition at Sangki’s hideout in mountainous Barangay Saniag in Ampatuan town. Sindac said 12 unidentified government troopers were also wounded in the fight that sparked as security forces tried to serve a search warrant on Sangki, one
of the five Maguindanao mayors whom President Rodrigo Duterte accused of being involved in narcotics trafficking. After Duterte made the accusation in August, Sangki surrendered to authorities but was later released after the authorities failed to establish evidence against him. But on Friday, Sindac said law-
men were able to search Sangki’s residence under the watch of barangay officials and they found accessories of armalite rifles, three M60 barrels, and one for cal. 30 machine gun, bolts for M16 rifles, hand-held radios, cellphones, ammunitions for rifle grenade, 14 pieces links to cal. 50 machine gun and components of improvise explosive devices. Turn to A2
'DIGONG WEALTH GOOD OMEN FOR PH' By Joyce Pangco Pañares THE Year of the Fire Rooster will bring financial wealth to President Rodrigo Duterte and this will in turn translate into robust economic growth for the country, an international feng shui expert said on Saturday. “The luck of the country usually depends on the luck of the sitting president,” feng shui expert
Marites Allen said during a Chinese New Year reception at the Marco Polo Ortigas. “And President Duterte’s wealth element has just started. It will mean good luck for the country’s economy.” Allen, however, cautioned Duterte, born on March 28, 1945 in the Year of the Wood Rooster, against possible security concerns. “This Year of the Rooster has twitter.com/ MlaStandard
yin metal. Metal would mean guns, knives, assassinations and killings. The President has to be extra careful about security and terrorist attacks,” she added. Allen noted that previous years under the Rooster sign have not been auspicious to former world leaders. “Former President Ramon Magsaysay died in a plane crash. Turn to A2
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RITE OF EXORCISM. A traditional Chinese lion and dragon dance is performed at the Marco Polo Ortigas after a reception for the first day of the Year of the Fire Rooster. Joyce Pañares
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THE Philippine National Police ordered on Saturday a manhunt against Supt. Rafael Dumlao, who disobeyed the order of Director General Ronald dela Rosa and bolted restrictive custody over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Korean executive Jee Ick Joo. Dela Rosa directed tracker teams to locate Dumlao who left Camp Crame while being investigated on his role in the death of Jee, who was strangled inside Camp Crame on the eve of Oct. 18, the same day he was supposedly abducted by a group of lawmen. “I am concerned for his safety. He may get killed if he does not show up and then we’ll be blamed for his death again,” Dela Rosa said. “So be careful. Look for him. Find him and find him alive.” Sr. Supt. Glenn Dumlao, chief of the PNP Annti-Kidnapping Group, said Rafael left the police headquarters without permission on Friday accompanied by Sr. Supt. Benjamin Acorda, who was supposed to be “guardian.” When pursuing policemen found him at his home in Antipolo City Friday evening, they tried to arrest him on the strength of an arrest warrant that was issued by the court before he was identified by another principal suspect in the case SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel. But Rafael, who is also a lawyer, disputed the validity of the arrest warrant because it was under the name of an “alias Dumlao.” Turn to A2
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