Puno: Charges vs Abu leader's wives not dropped

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/18/2009 4:32 PM

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Saturday belied a Marine commander's claim that charges filed against the two wives of Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad have been dropped.

"The cases will in fact be filed in court because the evidence is very strong against the two wives of Albader Parad on the possession of explosives," Puno told reporters at a forum in Quezon City.

Puno confirmed that Parad's wives -- Rowena Aksan and Nursima Anudden -- have been released by the military.

Aksan and Anudden were arrested in Basilan province with four other suspected members and supporters of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group hours after the deadly bombing in downtown Jolo last July 7.

Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban, newly appointed Marines chief and former commander of Task Force Comet, had said Parad's wives were suspected of being involved in the Jolo bombing.

Sabban was the same official who announced that charges against the two wives have been dropped, and that they have been released due to "insufficiency of evidence."

The military official, however, denied allegations that the wives were released in exchange for the release of Red Cross member, Italian Eugenio Vagni.

Puno said the charges against Parad's wives have been submitted to the prosecutors' office in Basilan. He said the prosecutor assigned to the case has ordered the wives to submit their counter-affidavits.

The interior secretary, meanwhile, clarified that the cases against Parad's two wives were not in any way connected to the kidnapping of Vagni and two other Red Cross workers, Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter, last January 15.

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