Lobregat's feet for trial in Zambo
Rizal Alih
FUGITIVE and double murder suspect Rizal Alih has requested his children to bow and bend their knees before Mayor Celso Lobregat in a bid to convince the city chief executive into allowing him to stand trial in Zamboanga City.
"Puntahan 'nyo si Mayor (Celso Loregat) kung puwede doon kayo matulog at pagkatapos halikan 'nyo and kanyang mga paa at kamay para lang pahintulutan niya na isagawa ang hearing ng kaso ko sa Zamboanga City (Go to the mayor (Celso Lobregat) and if possible you sleep in his office, kiss both his hands and feet so he would allow my case to be heard in Zamboanga City)," Alih said in his request to his children.
Alih, now 60, said that he also looks forward to reuniting with his family after 17 years in self exile and eventual imprisonment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he had been charged and convicted for killing a Malaysian soldier and illegal migration to the said country.
In an exclusive interview over Zamboanga City-based Radyo Agong of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), Alih said that he yearns to see and hug his children, particularly those who were too young when fled to Malaysia after the infamous Cawa-Cawa siege in 1989.
"I am already old and with my present situation I don't have anymore force or power to initiate or create any disturbances neither can I ruin Zamboanga City," he said.
According to Alih, he is ready to accept whatever punishment the court would give him in the double murder case filed with the regional trial court here.
At the same time, Alih appealed to Mayor Lobregat and members of the City Council to reconsider their stand and give him the chance to return and defend himself in court here.
He also advised his sons not to take revenge with the government "because what had happened wasn't his choice and he was only a victim of time".
It will be recalled that Alih was turned over by the Malaysian government to the Philippine government last January 20, and is now temporarily detained in Camp Crame, pending the Supreme Court's decision for his transfer to this city for trial.
Alih, a former patrolman, led a prison riot in 1989 where a general and his aide died along with eight others in the now infamous Camp Cawa-Cawa incident in Zamboanga City in 1989. He has been charged with the murder of Gen. Eduardo Batallia and Col. Romeo Abendan.
He fled to Malaysia and lived under an assumed identity, reports said.
Judge Peter Eisma of the Zamboanga City RTC recently reissued a warrant of arrest against Alih on Sept. 8, 2005 after authorities determined that Alih is alive.
Authorities turned over Alih to CIDG following his deportation to the Philippines. Alih spent eight years in prison in Malaysia after his arrest and conviction in 1994 on gun charges.
Malaysian police seized two M-16 rifles from him during a raid on a known criminal den in Sabah where he escaped after the Zamboanga incident.
He was subsequently deported to Indonesia because he used an assumed name and introduced himself as an Indonesian national during his stay in Malaysia.
Hunger forced him to turn himself in to Indonesian authorities who subsequently deported him to the Philippines after introducing himself as the Rizal Alih wanted for the Camp Cawa-Cawa siege.
Alih was picked up and eventually detained in Camp Cawa-Cawa in 1989 in connection with the murder of Zamboanga City Mayor Cesar Climaco on Nov. 14, 1984.
Alih was summoned on Jan. 5, 1989 by Batalla in his office following his refusal to be transferred to Manila. It ended into a shouting match and the hostage-taking of Batalla and Abendan.
The military and the police then lay siege on the camp after a three-day stand-off, destroying it with artillery fire.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will pursue the filing of murder charges against Alih.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said he is only waiting for the turn over of reports and evidence of the case coming from the Philippine Gonzalez said the PNP is contemplating to ask the Supreme Court the transfer of Alih's trial from Zamboanga to other place for security reasons. (ZS)
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