Solon: Either ASG or AFP behind Batasan blast

11/21/2007

A lawmaker yesterday said the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) theory that the political rivals of Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar were behind the fatal bombing at the Batasan Complex is unlikely, as he called on the authorities to look at other angles while alleging that the attack could have only been carried out either by the local terror group Abu Sayyaf or the military.

Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza refuted the PNP’s aired suspicion that Akbar’s political foes had him assassinated through the bombing last Nov. 13, saying it was not in the character of the political personalities being suspected by the police to have undertaken such deadly plot to carry out the attack.

Plaza said only the military and the Abu Sayyaf have the motive to bomb the Batasan Complex, which houses the House of Repre-sentatives, as the latter is a known terror group while the former may have wanted to disrupt the

Congress’ scheduled hearing on the impeachment case filed by lawyer Ruel Pulido against President Arroyo the next day. The House hearing was scheduled on the same day the Senate was also to resume its hearing into the national broadband controversy, also involving the Arroyo administration.

In defending one of the PNP’s suspects in the Batasan bombing, Plaza vouched for the integrity of Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman.

“Mujiv is a good man. He doesn’t even have bodyguards and usually goes by alone. I say, with precision and accuracy, that only the military and the Abu Sayyaf have the capability to carry out such an attack,” he said.

Plaza said the PNP should widen the scope of its investigations into the Batasan incident and to not focus on the probable involvement of former Deputy Speaker Gerry Salappudin and Hataman, both of whom, he stressed, are not capable of doing such an act.

Relatedly, the Administrative Management Bureau of the House certified that Ikram Indama, one of three alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf who were arrested by the police in a raid on their hideout near the Batasan Complex in Quezon City and was linked to the bombing, was an employee of Salapuddin and not of Hataman, as reported in the media.

Benjamin Hataman, a relative of Rep. Hataman, who has also been implicated by the PNP in the House blast, works as a staff of Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong.

Some members of the lower chamber also raised the theory that Akbar was killed due to his open protestation against the overwhelming presence of military forces in his province.

“He (Akbar) had no enemies in particular. He merely told me that he was against the presence of the military, the Marines in particular, in Basilan. To my understanding, he was against the presence of the Marines in his province. He was very concerned over the peace and order situation there due to the soldiers’ presence,” Lanao del Norte Rep. Vicente Belmonte said.

Reports have said people close to Akbar had been linked to the beheading of 10 of the 14 slain Marines.

Meanwhile, two more suspects were arrested in connection with the bomb attack at the House that killed Akbar and three congressional staff members.

Twelve other persons, including two other legislators, were injured in the blast.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said military authorities raided a small Manila hotel late Monday and detained Hajaron Jamiri, a former mayor of Tuburan town in Basilan, and his security aide, Halik Usman.

Torres said Jamiri and Usman were arrested at the St. Andrew’s Apartelle on San Andres Street in Malate District following information that the three arrested Abu Sayyaf suspects gave authorities implicating Jamiri in the bombing.

The three – Indama, Kaidar Aunal and Abraham Kusain – also allegedly bared that those behind the blast may be planning a second attack.

Jamiri yielded an unlicenced handgun when arrested while Usman was later released without charge.

“It is possible” that Jamiri, who like Akbar is a politician from the southern island of Basilan, may become a suspect, Torres said.

“He was in the place mentioned by the suspects. These are things that we are investigating,” he moreover said.

Torres said “traces of explosives” were found on a motorcycle, a helmet, goggles and a jacket seized in the raid, but he did not name any suspects.

The hotel was raided after the three suspected Abu Sayyaf members arrested on Friday apparently told investigators that “their colleagues are preparing explosives there to be used to bomb Akbar’s house” in Valle Verde Subdivision in Pasig City, Torres said.

The second attack was not carried out, but “follow-up operations are ongoing,” Torres said without elaborating.

A check done by the police found that the motorcycle seized at the hotel raid was owned by one Dorie Kalahal, also a former Tuburan mayor and an ex-commander of the Muslim secessionist group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The Muslim couple who were slain during the Payatas raid, that resulted in the arrest of the three Abu Sayyaf suspects, were said to be former MNLF members.

Torres said the mastermind behind the attack has not been identified but National Capital Region Police Office Deputy Director Geary Barias said they are gathering evidence that would prove Jamiri was involved in the Batasan attack as allegedly claimed by the three arrested Abu Sayyaf suspects. Gerry Baldo, Gina Peralta-Elorde, Charlie V. Manalo and AFP

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