Salapuddin asks court to review Batasan bombing

MANILA, Philippines - Fugitive former congressman Gerry Salapuddin is asking the court to “revisit and reevaluate” his indictment for the 2007 Batasan Pambansa bombing.

Through his lawyer, Felipe Egargo Jr., Salapuddin filed a motion to review the “judicial determination of probable cause and to quash the warrant of arrest” Regional Trial Court Branch 83 Judge Ralph Lee issued against him in August 2010. Salapuddin has been in hiding for the past two years.

The former lawmaker, his former driver Ikram Indama, Caidar Aunal, Adham Kusain, Hajarun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman, and Police Officer 1 Bayan Judda.are facing multiple murder and frustrated murder charges before Lee’s sala.

The bombing on Nov. 13, 2007 killed six people, including his political rival and then Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, who was perceived to be the main target of the attack. Several others, including Negros Oriental Rep. Pryde Henry Teves, were hurt.

Indama admitted that he parked a motorcycle carrying the explosives near the south wing exit of the House of Representatives in Quezon City before the explosion.

In the latest motion, Egargo said the confessions executed by Jamiri, Aunal and Kusain mentioning Salapuddin “were extracted by means of torture, force, violence, threat, and intimidation” when they were in the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s National Capital Region office. He said Aunal and Kusain have recanted their statements.

Egargo noted that without the affidavits of Aunal, Kusain and Jamiri, only Indama’s five affidavits tagged his client. He said the affidavits are inadmissible because they are “so riddled with inconsistencies.”

The Department of Justice earlier cleared congressman former Anak Mindanao party-list Mujiv Hataman and his brother of involvement in the bombing after their co-accused recanted their testimonies tagging them as the alleged masterminds.