MANILA, Philippines--Despite the disruption of the terrorist financing network set up in the Philippines by Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, another network has taken its place, according to antiterrorism officer Chief Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza of the Philippine National Police.

Mendoza said the network was run by a cell called "Othaimen" under Abdulrahman Qaussamulah which provides funds to the Abu Sayyaf group and for the formation of the Rajah Sulaiman Movement, a group of radical Islam converts.

According to Mendoza, Khalifa's network, established in the 1980s and which had provided funds to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf, collapsed sometime in 1995. It was resurrected in 1997 with the arrival of six Saudi Arabian nationals led by Qaussamulah and which included Mohammad Shugair. The six immediately made contact with the Abu Sayyaf to offer them funding.

Also in 1997, Mendoza said, Shugair facilitated the sponsorship of Yasser Igasan and Burhan Mundos, former provincial officers of Khalifa's old International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) network in the country, for a trip to Saudi Arabia to take a course on how to spread Islam.

In 2001, Igasan and Mundos put up the Safinatun Najah (Ship of Salvation) organization. It was through this organization, Mendoza said, that Qaussamulah channeled funds to the ASG, estimated at P10 million.

"To avoid detection by authorities, Mundos facilitated the construction of mosques under the supervision of Shugai. Aside from the construction of mosques and Arabic schools, the foundation also put up Koranic circles in Basilan, Zamboanga and Sulu," Mendoza said.

Later, he said, the funds sent by Qaussamulah were used to conduct bombings in Central Mindanao and Zamboanga City, based on the testimony of ASG members arrested for their involvement in the incidents.

Never charged
Together with his brothers Khayr and Gulam, Mundos actively supported Igasan in funding the ASG, he added.

Mendoza said both Mundos and Shugair were arrested in 2005, Mundos in Malaysia and Shugair somewhere in Mindanao. Shugair was deported to his native Saudi Arabia. Both were never charged in local courts.

Mendoza also disclosed that Hamoud al-Lahim arrived in Manila in late 1998 or early 1999 and assumed the post of director of IIRO Philippines. He said he touched base with the Darul Hijra Foundation of Nedal Dhalain, which was suspected as being part of the al-Qaida network.

Mendoza said that in 2002, Lahim provided support to two organizations that eventually consolidated into the Rajah Sulaiman Movement.

In January 2005, operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) under Mendoza raided the Islamic Information Center (IIC) in Malate, Manila.

The IIC, Mendoza said, had provided funds to the RSM and the raid "caused massive dislocation and disruption of the IIC and the flow of terrorist financing was totally shattered."

Mendoza said Igasan was still using his existing network in the Middle East to raise funds for the Abu Sayyaf.