Philippine ambassador
denies politicking charge

PHILIPPINE AMBASSADOR to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Bahnarim Guinomla, who has been recalled to Manila since February, denied campaigning for opposition presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson.

The article "RP Envoy to Saudi Earns Govt Ire for Backing Ping," which appeared in the opposition newspaper The Daily Tribune on Tuesday, claimed that Ambassador Guinomla was in the process of being investigated by Malacanang Palace and the Department of Foreign Affairs for allegedly engaging in partisan politics by endorsing Lacson.

"I never endorsed any presidential candidate," Guinomla told me in a phone interview from Manila on Wednesday. "I am a career diplomat and I just host any political figures who come to Riyadh. I shared the stage with Senator Lacson last year in Riyadh, but it was a community function and we were both guests of honor. I never said I endorsed him," explained the ambassador.

Initial reports had said that Guinomla had been recalled to Manila last February to face complaints laid against him by various community groups in Riyadh after he placed the embassy grounds off-limits for most cultural events on security concerns after a series of deadly bombings of housing compounds in the Saudi capital last year. The security situation was so serious in Riyadh, and extra tight in the Diplomatic Quarter, that Manila had given Guinomla the power to decide whether or not it was safe enough for Filipino groups to hold events at the chancellery. He decided it wasn't.

Guinomla told me that he is still in Manila because he has to wait for Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert and Malacañang Palace to clear his return to Riyadh. He also said that many members on the Foreign Service Board that he spoke to didn't know of any complaint against him. But he did hint that Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia just before Guinomla's appointment, had an ax to grind with him and was responsible for his current predicament.

"Undersecretary Seguis came out with a statement about me this week, but he seems to speaking on his own," said Guinomla.

Seguis was recently in Saudi Arabia inspecting the voting facilities for Filipinos in the Gulf for the forthcoming presidential elections. Overseas Filipino workers are being allowed to take part in Philippine elections this year for the first time, and land-based OFWs are scheduled to start casting their ballots at Philippine diplomatic missions around the world on April 11.

Some Philippine community sources have claimed that Guinomla is really being investigated for alleged corruption, but the ambassador denied this. "Some people are saying that I grabbed some of the two million pesos that Lacson sent to Riyadh to help OFWs in distress, but that is not true," Guinomla said.

I have known Guinomla since his days as consul general in Jeddah in the early 1990s, and have found him to be extremely pleasant, intelligent and approachable by all. It's really too bad if some colleagues of his are trying to besmirch his reputation, especially at this critical juncture when he should be in Riyadh overseeing the preparations for the absentee voting. I just hope that he is rapidly cleared of all accusations and allowed to return to Saudi Arabia as soon as possible.

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Is Angelo Reyes really a kidnapper?

IN A SPINE-CHILLING interview this week, the wife of alleged kidnapper Rogelio Ramoso, who was recently killed in shootout with National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTF) members, claimed that NAKTF chief Angelo Reyes in fact knew her husband because he had been an undercover NAKTF agent!

Reyes claims Ramoso was the kidnapper of Jethro Chua, a young Filipino-Chinese, who was abducted a few months ago. Reyes has also denied ever knowing Ramoso.

To prove her point, Lorna Ramoso sent the Daily Tribune a large photograph of her husband posing next to a smiling Reyes. If her husband was supposedly unknown to Reyes, why was the NAKTF chief standing next to him in the photo? A good question if the photo turns out to be authentic.

According to Lorna, her husband was part of secret, undercover kidnapping gangs run by NAKTF to kidnap and ransom wealthy Filipino-Chinese. "Ramoso, and another widow, Shirley Orihinal, whose husband Ricky, was also killed by the Reyes team together with Rogelio and two others in an alleged shoot-out, have sworn under oath before the Ombudsman that their husbands were agents and served as close-in security of Reyes and charged they were murdered by the NAKTF team, pointing to Reyes as the mastermind behind these kidnappings of Filipino-Chinese victims and raising ransom money as well as donations from the Filipino-Chinese community," reports the Daily Tribune.

Lorna claims that her husband and others were lured into working as undercover NAKTF kidnappers with promises of high salaries, perks and power -- only to be ordered killed off by Reyes after they knew too much about NAKTF's devious operations.

Not surprisingly, Malacañang on Thursday denied the murder charges leveled against Reyes and NAKTF.

After all, Reyes is the blue-eyed boy of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, so it's not surprising that she is defending him.

"Everyday we see innocent kidnap suspects arrested, jailed then later served on a silver platter for President Arroyo's popularity points, and poor kidnap victims who even thank NAKTF for enriching it with millions in ransom money," claimed the wives.

The two wives allege that their husbands had grown tired of doing NAKTF's dirty work and were looking for new employment, but were murdered before they could do so.

These are serious allegations that should be probed thoroughly. Allegations of police involvement in kidnap-for-ransom gangs have long been made. Instead of scoffing at the accusations made by these two widows, the Department of Justice should fully investigate NAKTF and Reyes, and file charges against anyone found guilty of helping kidnappers.

Comments or questions? E-mail the author at manilamoods@hotmail.com.