US embassy cable - 05MANILA5097

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 005097 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP, INR/TNC, 
S/CT 
NSC FOR H. MORROW 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, PINR, PINS, RP 
SUBJECT: MANILA BOMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PHILIPPINE 
COURT 
 
REF: MANILA 5021 
 
1.  This message is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
2.  (SBU) Summary:  Death sentences were handed down in a 
Philippine trial court on October 28 to three extremists for 
their role in the February 14, 2005, bombing of a passenger 
bus in Manila.  Key to the prosecutors' case was the guilty 
plea by two defendants and testimony by a 
defendant-turned-state-witness.  The speed of the trial and 
sentencing of the three were remarkable, especially given the 
normally ponderous nature of the Philippine judicial system. 
End Summary. 
 
Abu Sayyaf Member Turns State Witness 
------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya (JI) member Rohmat 
Abdurrohim a.k.a. "Zaki," Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) 
member Angelo Trinidad, and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) member 
Gamal Bahran, were convicted and sentenced to death in a 
Philippine trial court on October 28 for their role in the 
February 14, 2005, bombing of a passenger bus that left four 
dead and over 60 wounded in the greater Manila area of 
Makati.  Occurring simultaneously with this bombing were two 
other bombings in Davao and General Santos City, Mindanao, 
for which the ASG claimed responsibility  (the bombings 
collectively are known as the "Valentine's Day Bombings"). 
(NOTE:  All of the defendants in this case are on the U.S. 
Department of Defense Rewards List.  The first reward of 
$50,000 will be paid on November 9.  Rewards for the 
remaining defendants will be paid by late November.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
4.  (SBU) Philippine Department of Justice prosecutors won 
the convictions for multiple murder, murder, and frustrated 
murder largely due to the guilty plea of defendants Trinidad 
and Bahran and the testimony of Gappal Bannah Asali a.k.a. 
"Boy Negro" -- an ASG member who turned state witness in 
exchange for immunity.  Abdurrohim, who pled not guilty but 
admitted to having trained Trinidad, Bahran, and Asali in 
Mindanao, is the first JI member convicted and sentenced to 
death in Philippine court.  Each of these death sentences -- 
to be carried out by lethal injection -- will be reviewed by 
the Supreme Court. (NOTE:  The only other JI member to have 
been convicted in the Philippines was Fathur Al-Ghozi -- a 
suspect in the December 2000 bombing of a suburban train in 
Manila.  In April 2002, Al-Ghozi was sentenced to 17 years in 
prison for illegal possession of explosives and fraudulently 
obtaining false passports.  After escaping from prison in 
July 2003, Al-Ghozi was killed in a firefight with Philippine 
security forces in North Cotabato Province, Mindanao.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
Convictions Follow "Big Catch" in Zamboanga 
------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) The culmination of this five month trial came on 
the heels of the October 26 arrest of RSM founder/leader, 
Ahmad Santos a.k.a. Hilarion del Rosario, in Zamboanga City. 
Seized at Santos' safehouse were weapons, explosives, and 
maps of Manila (see Reftel). 
 
6.  (SBU) Santos -- described as a "big catch" by Armed 
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southcom Commander Lt. Gen. 
Edilberto Adan -- was allegedly planning bomb attacks at the 
time of his arrest.  Philippine authorities suspect that 
members of Santos' RSM were also involved in the February 
2004 bombing of a ferry near Manila that left over 100 dead. 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
 
7.  (SBU) Philippine investigators and prosecutors -- who 
have long been hamstrung over the lack of an anti-terrorism 
law and criticized for the glacial pace of their judicial 
system -- have won a major victory with this case.  The 
handing down of death sentences to three convicted terrorists 
-- including a JI member -- just eight months following the 
deadly February 2005 "Valentine's Day bombings" has sent the 
message that it is not business as usual in the Philippines 
as related to such attacks.  As for the death sentences, it 
appears unlikely that they will ever be carried out -- the 
death penalty is on the books but rarely utilized in the 
Philippines. 
 
Visit Embassy Manila's Classified SIPRNET website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/ 
 
 
Jones