Congressman cheats death as van explodes

Pasig City Rep. Robert "Dodot" Jaworski Jr., his younger brother Ryan and their driver escaped injury after jumping out of their vehicle, which exploded along C-5 highway in Pasig City yesterday.

Jaworski said they noticed smoke coming out from their Toyota Innova van with license plate ZDA-660 and immediately pulled over before it exploded.

Jaworski was on his way home with Ryan in a vehicle driven by Romy Seles when the explosion occurred.

They were followed in two backup vehicles by their bodyguards, who initially thought the congressman was ambushed when they heard a loud explosion.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Luizo Ticman said they are still investigating the cause of the explosion.

Ticman ordered the EPD explosives and ordnance division to investigate the incident.

Jaworski claimed it was an attempt on his life.

"I have no known enemies except in politics. Pulitika talaga ito (This is really politics.)," he said.

The Pasig lawmaker later told a news conference at the House of Representatives of his belief that the incident was an attempt on his life.

"I have an idea (of who’s behind it), but it is unfair for me to point a finger because I have no evidence to pin him down directly. I leave it up to the authorities," Jaworski said.

He refused to believe initial reports that the explosion might have been caused by faulty electrical wiring in the vehicle.

"Take note, the van did not burn, it did burn after the explosion. I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think it’s faulty electrical wiring. Anyway, let us just wait for the investigators to find out," Jaworski told the news conference at the House.

Jaworski, the son and namesake of basketball legend and former senator Robert Jaworski, has made it known he would run as mayor of Pasig City in the midterm elections next year.

He would run against Pasig City councilor Bobby Eusebio, son of incumbent Mayor Vicente Eusebio who is facing charges for his alleged involvement over the controversial "shabu tiangge" in the city.

Jaworski initiated a congressional investigation last month over the discovery of the drug den that also probed the demolition of the raided shabu market allegedly ordered by Eusebio.

The Interior Department had stripped Eusebio of his power to oversee the Pasig police.

"If they thought the bombing would discourage me, they made a mistake," Jaworski said.

Flanked by Speaker Jose de Venecia and administration allies, Jaworski revealed before the news conference at the House that an informant tipped him off on a possible attempt on his life but he did not pay it much attention. "(I) did not give much weight to it," he said.

But he stressed the death threats became frequent after he initiated the congressional investigation over the shabu tiangge controversy in the city.

"I have been receiving death threats after I have been very vocal about the Mapayapa (drug tiangge) incident. I did not pay much attention to it because I thought it’s part of public service," Jaworski said.

De Venecia, for his part, comforted the Pasig lawmaker and urged Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to initiate the probe.

"We would like to show the solidarity of the congressmen, to declare in no uncertain terms, the criminal attempt to kill our colleague through a bomb that exploded in his car. Thank God, he is alive. He was almost overrun by another car," De Venecia said. - With Delon Porcalla