Senators fear killed, nabbed Abus fall guys

Salapuddin linked to House bomb blast

11/17/2007

The Philippine government is making a last ditch effort to save the life of Marilou Ranario, the Filipino worker on death row in Kuwait, before the Kuwaiti Court hands down its decision on Dec. 27.

Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya said Kuwait’s highest court, the 11-member Court of Cassation, heard oral arguments on the case of Ranario last Nov. 13.

At that hearing, Ranario was represented by two highly respected Kuwaiti defense lawyers, Ahmad Qurban and Abdel Majid Khuraibet, Endaya said.

Ranario was charged with the murder of her Kuwaiti employer on Jan. 11, 2005 . She was sentenced by the Kuwaiti Appelate Court this year to die by hanging.

“Throughout her detention and the judicial proceedings, from the Criminal Circuit Court to the Appellate Court and the Court of Cassation, the Philippine government has spared no effort to assist Ranario and her family,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

It also said Philippine Embassy officers have regularly visited and counseled Ranario and attended court proceedings.

The DFA added the embassy assisted Ranario’s parents in their travel to Kuwait in April 2006 to visit her at the Sulaibiya Central Jail while Ranario’s two children are provided counseling by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and scholarship by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

the late Akbar, said that it is normal for relatives of the deceased to suspect their next of kin’s political rival.

“A grieving person’s normal instinct is to suspect a political rival as the killer. But my electoral protest was not against Wahab Akbar. My protest was against his wife,” Salapuddin said.

Police raided a suspected northern Manila hideout of the Abu Sayyaf group on Thursday, killing three of them and detaining three others.

The house was in a slum area near the House of Representatives.

Manila police chief Geary Barias said documents seized in the raid showed one of the slain suspects owned a motorbike used in the bombing.

The parked motorcycle exploded as congressmen left the building on Tuesday. The chassis number of the vehicle was recovered and corresponded with a deed of sale found at the hideout, he said.

Barias said this was a major breakthrough in the investigation of the bombing which killed Muslim legislator Akbar.

“This is material evidence to link this group with the House incident,” said Barias, adding that police did not yet know who had masterminded the attack.

“If we can get information from the three arrested, we will have follow-up operations,” Barias said without elaborating.

Police said earlier it was likely the bombers positioned the motorcycle-bomb to target Akbar, citing evidence it was detonated remotely by mobile phone.

Barias also confirmed that one of those arrested in the raid, Ikram Indana, had been an aide to Salapuddin, a political rival of Akbar. Indana had kept his congressional ID cards.

Barias said police also recovered a congressional automobile license plate, a congressional automobile sticker and shirts with the logo of the House of Representatives during the raid.

He would not comment on whether these items were used in planning the bombing.

As this developed, Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman said that Redwan Indama, one of the three fatalities in the Payatas raid, was a relative, even as he denied links to any involvement in the bombing.

He said Indama was a former member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and former municipal councilor of Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.

Aside from Indama, Khaidar Awnal and Adham Kusain were also arrested and have been tagged as suspected members of Abu Sayyaf group.

For his part, Salapuddin said he knew Redwan Indama and Saing but not Abu Jandal, adding that his driver was a nephew of Redwan.

“I know Redwan Indama because he is a former member of the MNLF. And the woman, Saing Indama, that’s his wife,” he said.

The three-term congressman said Indama had served as his personal driver for three years while he was still in office.

Salapuddin expressed suspicion that his former driver could have been lured into the group because of “his experience and access inside the House of Representatives.”

“They might have used Indama as a bridge. Because, number one, he was working as my driver for three years. He knows all of Manila’s streets,” he said.

But Salapuddin is not as yet considered a suspect in the bombing attack, despite his admission that he knew the three suspected Abu Sayyaf members linked to the incident.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., said they need more evidence, information to substantiate their claim that Saluppudin should be subjected to an investigation.

Senators also scored President Arroyo’s decision in putting up a bounty or a P5 million reward to tipsters who could give leads to the so-called perpetrators of the crime, saying it is an indication of the authorities’ inefficiency in solving the case.

Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Sen. Francis Escudero assailed both the PNP and the military’s pronouncements practically sealing the case as an assassination after rounding up alleged suspected perpetrators.

“”It is a difficult story to believe as they (suspects) did such a sophisticated job of bombing the House of Representatives but were so careless as to leave such items like the deed of sale of the motorcycle used in the bombing and even found their hideout,” broadly hinting that these may have been planted, Pangilinan said.

Escudero, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that while there are calls for a speedy investigation of incident, the resolution appears to be hasty. “I don’t know whether to be happy or whether I can believe the speedy cracking of the case by the PNP. It couldn’t have been coincidence that the operations they did in Payatas to look for those involved (in a kidnapping case) would be found with the evidence of the bomb blast.”

Escudero warned authorities against resorting to having so-called “fall guys” just so they could put up a “good performance” before the public in view of the directives issued by President Arroyo.

Escudero also assailed Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to put up the reward money, saying that besides the issue of it being unnecessary, considering that authorities are being paid by taxpayers to do their job, it’s also a clear indication of their being inefficient.

The President has no doubts that the alleged Abu Sayyaf members caught in the raid were connected to the bombing.

This was evident when Mrs. Arroyo commended the police and military for the operation and described it as a “breakthrough” in the bombing incident.

Through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Mrs. Arroyo also thanked the “informants” for helping the authorities in tracing the whereabouts of the suspects.

“The President has commended the combined elements of the PNP and AFP for the Payatas raid which provided a significant breakthrough in the Batasan blast investigation,” Bunye said.

Meantime, heeding a mounting clamor among the members of the House of Representatives, Speaker Jose de Venecia ordered the creation of a task force to spearhead a comprehensive review of the security setup in the House following the Nov. 13 bombing.

De Venecia named Rep. Arthur Celeste (Chairman of the Committee on National Defense), Rep. Rodolfo Antonino (Chairman of the Committee on Public Order and Safety) and opposition stalwart and former National Security Adviser, Rep. Roilo Golez to the task force.

“The three-man panel will immediately sit down with our Sergeant-at-Arms, Gen. (Ret.) Bayani Fabic. They will subse-quently meet and coordinate with the Armed Forces, the Philippine National Police and with the National Security Council on how we can review carefully the security arrangement of the House of Representatives,” De Venecia said.

The Speaker vowed the House, which he said was attacked by dark forces outside the law, “would never be intimidated by violence, which is the argument of tyrants and terrorists.”

De Venecia said that new security arrangements are in place. One will limit access to the South Lounge to members, a move which the Speaker said was a “little bit uncomfortable but necessary.”

Some members pointed out the relatively lax security at the main entrance to the Batasan complex which, according to them, is way below the tighter measures being implemented by malls in Metro Manila.

“There was really a failure of security,” they said. Gerry Baldo, Angie M. Rosales, Gina Peralta Elorde, Sherwin C. Olaes, Charlie V. Manalo and AFP

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