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OD: Are you admitting now that ASG is a terrorist organization?

KJ: Not what they mean. We are mujahideen, albeit a bit brutal since we don’t distinguish oppressive soldiers from its public or citizenry -- they are generally our enemies. And we cannot soften up or become friends even with Arabs (e.g. in the OIC) if they are in league with our enemies.

OD: Why, what’s so different with the groups of Jamal Khalifa or Ramzi Yousef (personalities linked to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda) that you befriended them?

KJ: Jamal Khalifa was a philanthropist who helped Moro and other mujahideen in this world. Our friendship with them is dictated by necessity, convenience and the need to help one another. They needed at that time volunteers for Afghanistan, while we need money to buy arms, ammunition and other necessities to fight the oppressive government. Ramzi Yousef came later through Khalifa. We reciprocated their assistance by providing them volunteers, to include our visit to Afghanistan.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The hired driver of television reporter Ces Drilon and her crew has claimed to police that a known “military agent” and not members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group abducted the ABS-CBN team, the Sulu police chief said Thursday.

Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, Sulu police director, said driver Maramma Hasim, the man hired by Drilon and her team to chauffer for them in Maimbung on the day of their disappearance, claimed that one Juamil “Maming” Biyaw was the “missing link” to knowing who was behind the abduction.



Biyaw, a resident of the village of Sandah in Patikul town, is known in Sulu as a military agent, Kasim said.

Kasim said Hashim, who is now in police custody, claimed Biyaw was with the group Sunday when Drilon, cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide, Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampong went to Maimbung.

Abdulwahid Basaluddin, chair of the Anak Sug Professionals in Sulu, said Biyaw, aside from being a former MNLF member, was a “conflict mediator like Professor Octavio (Dinampo), although Biyaw has more access to military than Dinampo,” the Mindanao State University professor who was acting as Drilon’s guide.

Maldisa admitted to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, that he was also confused by the turn of events.

“Yesterday, the Abu Sayyaf, and now they’re saying it’s not the Abu Sayyaf,” Maldisa said.

The mayor said the police should immediately get Biyaw “because he is the key to knowing who is behind the abduction.”