Salapuddin seen with armed escorts - witness

MANILA, Philippines - Former Basilan lawmaker Gerry Salapuddin, who is facing charges for his alleged involvement in the 2007 Batasan Pambansa bombing, has been seen in his home province allegedly with armed escorts days after an arrest warrant was issued against him, a government prosecutor said yesterday.

Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong revealed this information to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the hearing on the multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against Salapuddin and six others.

According to Ong, his sources told him that Salapuddin was sighted on the morning of Aug. 23 in Barangay Tuburan, Haji Mohammad Ajul, Basilan. Ong alleged that Salapuddin was with some “50 armed followers.”

Judge Ralph Lee of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 issued an arrest warrant against Salapuddin on Aug. 13. Lee issued the arrest warrant despite the pending petition for review before the Supreme Court because the High Tribunal has not issued any temporary restraining order regarding the matter, despite its pendency for about a year. On Aug. 16, he issued a hold departure order against the former lawmaker.

Salapuddin is one of the seven accused in the bombing on Nov. 13, 2007 that killed six people, including his political rival and Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, who was perceived to be the main target of the attack, and injured several others.

Salapuddin’s former driver Ikram Indama had admitted that he parked a motorcyle carrying the explosives near the exit of the south wing of the House of Representatives in Quezon City before the explosion. Aside from Salapuddin and Indama, among those accused in the case are Caidar Aunal, Adham Kusain, Hajarun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman, and Police Officer 1 Bayan Judda

Also during yesterday’s hearing, the prosecution presented as witness Inspector Noel Sublay, a bomb expert from the police, who was part of the team from the Manila Police District that examined the explosive device found at the house allegedly owned by Kusain in 2007. Sublay said this device had TNT as its main charge and was placed in a tin can that they found inside the house on Leveriza Street in Malate on Nov. 20, 2007.

One of accused purportedly told the police about the presence of the second explosive device, which was supposed to have been used as “plan B” had the bombing at the Batasan Pambansa complex not materialized, said Ong.

The prosecutor said the NBI and barangay clearances issued to Kusain bore the same address as that of the house on Leveriza Street. He claimed that Kusain was also the owner of the motorcycle that carried the explosive device that went off at the Batasan complex.

According to Ong, the police had noted similarities in the structures of the explosive device found at the house and the one that exploded at the Batasan Pambansa.