MANILA - Charges have been filed against the suspected kidnappers of beheaded school principal Gabriel Canizares in Sulu, police said Thursday.

The Philippine National Police said charges of kidnapping for ransom and serious illegal detention were filed against Basarun Aruk, Edimar Isnain and Abdulatip Jalmani before the Sulu Provincial Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday.

It said murder charges will also be filed against the suspects as soon as the school principal's family obtains a death certificate.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, chief of the Armed Forces' Western Mindanao Command, had said that Aruk is a leader of an Abu Sayyaf sub-group based in Patikul town.

Canizares was kidnapped in Barangay Tanum, Patikul town last October 19. His severed head was left by the kidnappers near a gasoline station in downtown Jolo early Monday.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno had revealed that a Jemaah Islamiyah operative identified as Tarik aided the Abu Sayyaf sub-group in the kidnapping.

Puno said the group's members are mostly minors or below 18-years-old and are believed to be drug addicts, citing police intelligence information.

"Our investigators suspect that these minors are drug addicts," Puno said.

Officials had said that a misunderstanding between the kidnappers and the negotiators, including the family of the school principal, could have led to the victim's beheading.

Puno said the kidnappers had relatives who died during the government's rescue operations for the three kidnapped members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sulu.

Bomb factory

Puno said he has ordered the police and requested the Armed Forces of the Philippines to conduct an "all-out" pursuit against Canizares's kidnappers.

He said the young bandits should be immediately stopped to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Puno explained that by saying all-out, he means police and military personnel should conduct "house-to-house" search for the kidnappers.

He said the kidnappers are in a certain area in Patikul town, which is suspected as a source of bombs used in several bomb attacks in Sulu and Basilan provinces.

Puno said the beheading of the school principal and the kidnapping of 4 plywood firm employees signals another possible surge in kidnappings in the southernmost past of Mindanao.

He said the military and the police have been ordered to raise their levels of alert and intensify operations against the Abu Sayyaf and kidnapping groups, including rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. With reports from Leila Vicente, ABS-CBN Zamboanga and Noel Alamar, radio dzMM