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By Jefferson Antiporda Reporter
and Sammy Martin Correspondent
THE Philippine National Police
(PNP) has created a task force to go after former Basilan Rep. Jerry
Salapuddin, who was issued a warrant of arrest by a Quezon City
court early this week in connection with his alleged involvement in
the November 13 Batasan blast.
Three other suspects were also
ordered arrested.
The camp of Salapuddin, through
the Salacnib F. Baterina Law Office, branded reports of
Salapuddin’s arrest order as “unfair.”
According to the acting PNP
Chief, Deputy Dir. Jesus Versoza, the task force will be composed of
at least 20 personnel from the Quezon City Police, Police Regional
Office 9, Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao and elements of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and
Detection Group.
“The task group was formed
because we’ll be dealing with government officials and we know
pretty well that the victim of the bombing was a former government
official,” Versosa explained.
Versosa said that even if he has
not yet received the copy of the arrest warrant, the task force is
preparing to serve it immediately.
The arrest order was issued by
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ralph Lee after Salapuddin
and suspects Harajun Jamiri, Benjamin Hataman and Bayan Judda failed
to attend a scheduled arraignment.
The four were earlier added as
suspects in the amended information submitted by government
prosecutors.
The acting PNP chief also assured
that the group will coordinate closely with the members of Congress
to make sure everything will go on smoothly in the serving of the
arrest warrant.
Six persons including Basilan
Rep. Wahab Akbar, were killed in the deadly Batasan blast. Five of
the fatalities were employees of the House: Marcial Taldo; Jul-Asiri
Hayundini; Maan Gale Bustalino; Dennis Manila and Vercia Garcia.
Wounded in the attack were Negros
Oriental Rep. Henry Teves, Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan and three
other House employees.
Akbar and Salapuddin are known
political foes in Basilan.
Salapuddin camp
slams arrest reports
The camp of Salappudin, through
Baterina’s law firm, scored media reports of the former
lawmaker’s arrest.
“We call on responsible
journalism as we deplore the disinformation campaign regarding the
alleged issuance of a warrant of arrest against our client,” a
statement from Baterina said.
Meanwhile, Anak Mindanao
Party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, who was earlier implicated in the
Batasan bombing, said he feels vindicated with the issuance of the
warrant of arrest against Salapuddin. Hataman’s brother, Jimmy,
was also declared innocent by the Department of Justice in relation
to the Batasan bombing.
“I feel vindicated now that the
Department of Justice cleared my name on this unfortunate incident
that brought so much pain to my family and Basileños. I just hope
that our authorities will respect the rights of the accused who
remain innocent. Let their constitutional right to due process be
observed,” Hataman said in an interview.
He added that law enforcers
should refrain arresting “fall guys” just to show that they are
doing their job, and that they dig deeper into the case.
While there are lawmakers who
were happy with Hataman’s getting off the hook in the Batasan
bombing case, there are those who were shocked over Salapuddin
facing a warrant of arrest.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante and
Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin believe that Salapuddin, a former
commander of the Moro National Liberation Front, has no motive to
kill Akbar.
“It’s just quite unlikely
that Salapuddin could have done it … doing it in the institution
he once belonged,” Abante pointed out.
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