Batasan blast suspects allowed to post bail

MANILA, Philippines - A local court has granted the motion for bail of two suspects tagged in the 2007 Batasang Pambansa bombing that killed six people, including then Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar.

In an 11-page decision, Judge Ralph Lee of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 allowed Caidar Aunal and Adham Kusain to post bail of P200,000 each because the prosecution “failed to present independent evidence that would link the accused to the Batasan bombing” other than the confession they made.

He noted that some of the evidence presented by the prosecution panel, such as the license plate of the motorcycle that allegedly contained the explosives, were obtained without a search warrant.

Lee said even if the prosecution proves that the motorcycle that was used in the bombing was indeed owned by the accused, it is not “a remote possibility” that it was stolen by the “perpetrators of the crime.”

Aunal, Kusain and a third suspect – Ikram Indama – already recanted their confession, claiming that they were tortured.

In their confession, they tagged former Basilan congressman Gerry Salapuddin, then Anak Mindanao Party-list Rep. and incumbent ARMM officer-in-charge Mujiv Hataman, and incumbent Basilan Rep. Jim Hataman for the blast. The Department of Justice has cleared the Hataman brothers after the three suspects recanted their confession.

Salapuddin earlier asked the court to nullify the warrant of arrest against him as there was “no valid and admissible evidence” against him.

Other suspects in the explosion were Hajarun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman, and Police Officer 1 Bayan Judda.

Meanwhile, the court declined to grant Indama’s motion for bail “in view of the evidence adduced by the prosecution that he was at the scene of the crime prior to the explosion, for no reason at all, despite the fact that he was no longer an employee of the House of Representatives.” Indama was the former driver of Salapuddin.

Aside from Akbar, five staff members of the House of Representatives were killed in the Nov. 13, 2007 blast. Among the injured were Negros Oriental Rep. Pryde Henry Teves and Gabriela Party-List Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan.