Salappudin denies any link with Batasan blast

By Ronron
November 16, 2007

One of the arrested persons in Thursday afternoon’s raid by authorities at a suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) safehouse in Payatas, Quezon City had been identified as a former driver of former Basilan Congressman Gerry Salappudin.

Salappudin, who is currently appealing his loss in the gubernatorial race last May in Basilan against one of the wives of killed incumbent Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, admitted in a radio interview yesterday that Ikram Indama was his driver for three years during his last Congressional term from 2004 to 2007.

Indama was arrested last Thursday together with Kaidar Aunal and Adham Kusain in Payatas by joint operatives of the Army and the police. They were with the subject of the arrest warrant, Abu Jandal, an alleged ASG leader who is wanted for kidnapping and serious illegal detention in Basilan.

Andal was killed during the raid, as well as Redwan Indama and his wife, Saing, after a shootout ensued while the raiding team was serving the warrant at around 4:15 pm. Injured in the encounter was PO3 Roland Baucas of the police Special Action Force (SAF).

Police had said that the group was believed to be responsible for the blast in Batasan last November 13, where Akbar was killed and three other Congress staffers, because of items recovered from their safehouse that matched with the statements of some witnesses and pieces of evidence recovered from the blast site.

“Further investigation disclosed that the chassis number XRM 13-066-203339 of the motorcycle in the recovered Deed of Sale found in the safehouse matches with the bar code 066-203-339 found in the motorcycle parts recovered after the explosion in the House of Representatives, which is a strong indication that the group is responsible for the Batasan bombing,” Quezon City Police chief Sr. Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula said in a report.

Police also recovered an Identification Card of Ikram Indama with the House of Representatives, which states that he is a Legislative Staff Assistant III at the Office of the Deputy Speaker for Mindanao, referring to Salappudin. The validity of the ID is believed to have expired already.

“I do not deny that that he used to work for me as a driver… But there are some staff who do not dispose of their ID’s even if they are no longer connected with Congress… But one thing I can assure you is he stopped working for me when I ended my term,” Salappudin said in mixed English and Filipino.

Salappudin said he was not personally aware during the time Indama was still working for him that he is connected with the ASG. What he knows, he said, is that Indama’s relatives are hardcore members of the bandit group.

But the former solon hinted that Indama could not have been a member of the ASG because he had been in Metro Manila for long already. He said that prior to working for him, Indama claimed to be a taxi driver at first, and then as a driver of an Indian national who was an executive of the Asian Development Bank.

Indama is currently undergoing tactical interrogation, together with Aunal and Kusain, at the Philippine Army’s Intelligence Security Group (ISG) in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Both the ISG and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are conducting the tactical interrogation.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. and National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Dir. Geary Barias said they have yet to find out if the three admitted to being ASG members really and if they have involvement in the Batasan bombing.

But Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said Ikram Indama and Kusain have been identified by a security guard at the House of Representatives gate as among those who entered the complex on November 13.

Razon did not say, however, if the two were aboard a motorcycle, and what time they entered.

“The two were positively identified by the guard… The helmet (recovered at the safehouse) was identified by the Security Guard in Batasan as the one worn by Ikram Indama. He recalled the helmet and the face of Indama because they normally ask people to remove their helmets upon entering the Batasan Complex,” Razon told a news conference yesterday afternoon in Camp Crame.

Razon said they are currently studying what charges to file against the three in relation to the encounter in Payatas, and the blast in Congress.

With the information at hand, Razon said the direction of the investigation is getting more focused now towards the theory that Akbar was really the target of the blast last Tuesday.

But Razon would not immediately say if Salappudin or the Abu Sayyaf is the mastermind of the alleged assassination plot until the three arrested suspects complete their statement.

“That is not enough basis for us to conduct an investigation on the former Congressman Salappudin. We are at present gathering additional facts on the evidence,” Razon said, referring to the association of Ikram Indama and Salappudin.

In the radio interview, Salappudin denied any involvement in the blast, saying his “system was not brutality and violence” even as he acknowledged that he and Akbar have differences in principle and manner of governance.

In fact, he said he brought his electoral protest against the victory of Akbar’s wife over him in the gubernatorial race before the Commission on Elections.

“In the case of this investigation, I would like to assure the public and the national government and Congress in particulart that if my personal presence is necessary to help shed light on the matter, I will be very willing in order that the whole truth will be made known to the public, not only because properties and lives were damaged and lost, but because the truth must really be made known,” he said.

But while he denied involvement in the incident, Salappudin suggested the possible participation of the ASG because of the animosity of the latter against Akbar.

“They (ASG) have a very deep resentment against him. It was him who indoctrinated them in the name of the Koran, in the name of the tradition of the prophet to wage Holy War against the government… But later, he turned his back on them. When he was under pressure for his link with the Abu Sayyaf, he betrayed them by personally volunteering to inform the intelligence community who are members of the Abu Sayyaf, how and where they can be captured,” Salappudin said.

“So, he became very instrumental to cause the apprehension and even summary execution of many of these Abu Sayyaf which he organized. So, because of that, the resentment is really deep. Maybe, this motivated them to do it (assassination) if they are really behind it,” he added./DMS