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MANILA, Philippines?United States Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas welcomed the guilty plea entered by Abu Sayyaf Group founding member Madhatta Haipe to four counts of hostage taking of 16 Filipino and American citizens in Mindanao in 1995 before a US federal court Thursday.
?I am pleased to see justice served. I congratulate the Philippine and US law enforcement agencies whose close and relentless collaboration brought about Haipe?s extradition and admission of guilt,? Thomas said in a statement released by the US embassy in Manila on Thursday.
?Our cooperation with the Philippines is essential in our common mission of defeating terrorist organizations that harm citizens of both our countries,? he added.
On Thursday, the US justice department said in a statement that Haipe pleaded guilty in federal court in the District of Columbia. The guilty plea was announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machen Jr., US Attorney for the District of Columbia; and Charlene B. Thornton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Honolulu Field Office.
According to the factual proffer in support of the guilty plea, to which Haipe agreed in court, Haipe was serving as the General Secretary of the ASG, or second-in-command of the organization, under the Amir, at the time of the hostage taking.
The Amir of the ASG had directed that members of the group engage in kidnappings for ransom in order to raise funds for the group and raise the public?s awareness of the group?s purpose. The ASG was subsequently designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US Secretary of State, and remains so designated today.
As admitted by Haipe in his guilty plea, several armed members of the ASG kidnapped 16 individuals, including four US citizens, one US permanent resident alien, and 11 Philippine citizens, six of them children, in the rugged area around Trankini Falls, near Lake Sebu, in southern Mindanao, in the Philippines, on Dec. 27, 1995. The hostages were forced to march up a mountainside. Some of the adult hostages had rope tied around their hands or neck.
Haipe informed the hostages that they were being kidnapped for ransom, and he individually questioned some of the hostages to determine the amount of ransom to be demanded.
Later that same day, Haipe decided to release four of the 16 hostages to allow them to collect a ransom totaling at least P1 million (equivalent to about $38,000, at the time). Haipe threatened that if the released hostages told anyone about the kidnapping, then hostages would be killed.
After releasing the four hostages, Haipe and his group forced the remaining hostages to continue marching up the mountainside to evade capture by the Philippine authorities.
Four days later, on December 31, 1995, Haipe and his group released the remaining hostages after a ransom was paid.
For roughly 15 years, FBI agents, justice department prosecutors and authorities in the Philippines relentlessly pursued this matter on behalf of the victims.
?With today?s guilty plea, Mr. Haipe is finally being held accountable for his actions,? said Kris.
For his part, Machen said that the guilty plea ?sends a clear message -- we will never tire in our pursuit of justice for those who seek to harm American citizens, whether at home or abroad.?
Machen also said the plea demonstrated that there would be serious consequences for those planning to commit such crimes.
Thornton said that the FBI Honolulu Division had investigated the matter in close coordination with the Philippine authorities for approximately 15 years.
?Through this international cooperation, despite the time and distance, we have managed to bring to justice a defendant who had sought to harm our U.S. citizens abroad,? she said.
Haipe, now 48 years old, was indicted for this crime by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. in November 2000.
In August 2009, he was extradited from the Philippines to face the charges against him. He is now scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Richard Roberts on Dec. 14, 2010.
Haipe faces up to life in prison on each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty. As part of the plea agreement, the government may advocate for a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
The US justice department and the FBI thanked the Philippines? Department of Justice, the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs for their assistance.
It also cited Robert Courtney, the US Justice Department?s Attaché to the Philippines, for providing substantial assistance in this case.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant US Attorneys Gregg Maisel and Anthony Asuncion of the US Attorney?s Office for the District of Columbia, as well as Trial Attorney T. J. Reardon, III, of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department?s National Security Division.
