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A QUEZON City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued
an arrest warrant against former Basilan Representative Gerry
Salapuddin and three others, after finding probable cause of their
alleged involvement in the Batasan blast, which killed five people,
including Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, and injuring 10 others.
Quezon City RTC Judge Ralph Lee
ordered the arrest of Salapuddin and his co-accused because “the
court finds that there exists probable cause to justify the issuance
of a warrant of arrest.”
Aside from Salapuddin, 55, the
court also ordered the arrest of Hajarun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman
and PO1 Bayan Judda.
Lee issued the arrest warrant
even if Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier ordered state
prosecutors to exclude Salapuddin from the information to implicate
him in the complex crimes of multiple murder and frustrated murder.
Gonzalez said the sworn
statements of Ikram Indama, also a suspect who is now under police
custody, are hearsay and cannot be used as evidence against
Salapuddin.
Earlier, the Justice department
filed the amended information before Lee, which recommended the
inclusion of Salapuddin, Jamiri, Hataman and Judda in the charges of
multiple murder and frustrated murder in connection to the Batasan
bombing.
Aside from Indama, the Justice
department filed charges against the first batch of suspects, namely
Caidar Aunal and Adham Kusain, who are under police custody.
The legal counsel of Salapuddin,
Ilocos Sur First District Rep. Salacnib Baterina, filed an urgent
motion to recall and quash the arrest warrant issued against
Salapuddin, citing the Justice department resolution directing the
state prosecutors to withdraw the information against his client.
“We filed [the] urgent motion
to recall or quash the warrant of arrest against [Salapuddin]
because the DOJ [Justice department] has earlier directed the Chief
State prosecutor to exclude Salapuddin from the case,” said Mark
Perete, from the Baterina Law office.
However, Lee explained that the
case filed against Salapuddin is “versus the people of the
Philippines,” and because of that, the motion should not be heard
without the representative of the complainant. Lee reset the hearing
for Salapuddin’s motion on Tuesday 2:00 p.m.
--Ira Karen Apanay with Christine Placino
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