Police files “strong case” against Batasan suspects

By Ronron
November 19, 2007

Police on Monday have formally charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) the three suspects in the Batasan blast last November 13 that killed Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar and three other Congress staffers.

Charged with multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and obstruction of justice were Kaidar Aunal, 41; Ikram Indama, 35; and Adham Kusain, 21; all of Basilan province. Other John Does were also implicated in the first two charges.

The three were brought to the DOJ building in Manila City past 9am yesterday by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for the inquest proceedings, and were told that the preliminary investigation of their case will be on November 29th.

CIDG-National Capital Region (NCR) chief Sr. Supt. Asher Dolina told reporters in Camp Crame, Quezon City after the filing of the case that “there have been some admission in the participation of the case” by some of the suspects, and that their target was Akbar.

But he refused to say who admitted the crime, more so on who ordered them and what is the motive, pending the conduct of follow up operations by investigators.

“There is an ongoing investigation because we want to get a clearer picture,” Dolina said.

But in an earlier news conference also at Camp Crame, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Dir. Geary Barias said Kusain could not deny his involvement because his name was stated in the Deed of Sale of a motorcycle that was recovered from their alleged safehouse in Payatas, Quezon City last November 15.

Also, Indama stated in his affidavit that “he was the one who parked the motorcycle at the lobby (of the House of Representatives),” Barias said.

“The arrested suspects made the revelation on the accounts of their preparations up to the execution of the bombing, with respect to their participation,” Barias said.

Last Friday, no less than Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. disclosed that Indama and Kusain were positively identified by a Security Guard at the Batasan Complex as having entered the complex on November 13.

The three were arrested after the violent raid at their alleged safehouse in Payatas that resulted in the death of their three other colleagues, namely, Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Jandal, Redwan Indama, and the latter’s wife, known only as Saing.

Police have said that Jandal was the subject of the raid since he has several arrest warrants for kidnapping with serious illegal detention.

Because they resisted arrest by firing at the members of the raiding team, Dolina said they included the charge of obstruction of justice against Aunal, Ikram Indama, and Kusain.

The multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder cases, on the other hand, are for the death of four persons, including Akbar, and the wounding of 12 others, said Dolina.

Barias said they have a strong case against the suspects because of the evidence they got from the suspects’ safehouse, such as the Deed of Sale of the motorcycle which matched with the bar code on a motorcycle part recovered from the blast scene, the House of Representative ID of Ikram Indama, and the helmet of the latter.

“If we planted evidence, nobody should have been left alive there. It would be very hard to plant evidence when there are three who survived the attack, or this raid… Besides, how can we fabricate all those evidence like the Deed of Sale and the ORCR (Official Registration and Certificate of Registration)? That is the beyond the imagination I think of the Philippine National Police,” Barias said.

Barias declared that they “have a strong case, otherwise, we will not be able to file these cases before the DOJ.”

In a related development, Anak Mindanao (AMIN) Party-list Representative Mujiv Hataman formally submitted his sworn statement before the CIDG yesterday afternoon, denying any hand in the November 13 bombing.

His action came two days after former Basilan Congressman Gerry Salappudin, a known political rival of Akbar, did the same.

In an interview after giving his statement to CIDG personnel, Hataman told reporters that he has no motive against Akbar as they could not even be called political rivals.

“In the first place, mine is a party-list. And my scope during the campaign was the entire Mindanao, not just Basilan,” Hataman said.

He said that even when Akbar was still alive, they talked in Congress, like the recent budget hearing. “We are cordial… We have a common intention for Basilan.”

Hataman said he had to voluntarily clear his name before the CIDG because he was implicated by Lantawan, Basilan Mayor Taheia Ismael, who alleged that Ikram Indama was allegedly Hataman’s staffer.

“I categorically deny it. In the first place, I don’t know personally Ikram Indama… I have no involvement here. My conscience is clear,” Hataman said.

He admitted that of the six at the alleged safehouse, he was familiar only with Redwan Indama, being a distant relative. But he said the last time he had a personal encounter with Redwan Indama was already several years back.

“Maybe, they are suspecting that there is political rivalry between me and Akbar. But we are not because it was my brother, Jim, who ran against him during the last elections,” Hataman said.

As of yesterday, Razon, Barias and Dolina were one in saying that police could not consider yet Salappudin and Hataman as suspects, although they are really not yet off the hook.

“He’s not necessarily off the hook but I can say that he is not a suspect because of our evidence on hand,” Barias said of Salappudin.

Pressed if Salappudin and Hataman can later on be tagged as suspects, Barias replied: “That would be speculative, highly speculative. Let’s just go by the evidence we have on hand.”

In the meantime that the DOJ prosecutors, led by State Prosecutor Peter Ong, will resolve the case only on November 29, the three will be under the custody of the CIDG-NCR in Camp Crame./DMS