Tambako says he's a 'good man' - CIDG official

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Despite facing several murder charges and other heinous crimes, arrested leader of an armed Moro group in Mindanao believed he was a ‘good man’, said an official of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Sultan Kudarat. Interviewed by DXND Radyo Bida Kidapawan,Chief Inspector Elmer Guevarra, CIDT-Sultan Kudarat head, said that Muhammad Tambako Ali, former leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), denied the charges filed against him saying he is an Islamic mentor teaching good values among his students. Tambako, according to Guevarra, was a graduate of Islamic Studies in Egypt. Upon his return to the Philippines, in Maguindanao in particular, Tambako joined the MILF, while posing as Islamic teacher. But he was delisted later by the central leadership.This, Guevarra said, prompted Tambako to join the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) under the leadership of former MILF Commander Datu Ameril Umbra Kato. Years later, he left BIFF and formed his own group, the Justice in Mindanao (JIM), which, according to intelligence reports, is also armed and connected to Jemaah Islamiyah of slain Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan. Tambako, along with four of his men, were apprehended while on board a passenger pedicab along Barangay Calumpang in General Santos City, on Monday. Guevarra said the suspects did not resist arrest when they were arrested as they were overpowered by fully-armed CIDG operatives and other apprehending policemen. Also on Monday, law enforcers recovered from Tambako’s house in General Santos City several main charges of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other bomb making paraphernalia. Guevarra said Tambako’s men were tasked to plant these IEDs in several towns in North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and other parts of South and Central Mindanao. Tambako and his men, now placed under inquest proceedings, could remain in Metro Manila, considering that they are ‘high-risk inmates’, according to Guevarra.