‘Akbar’s rivals sought end to monopoly’

Former Basilan congressman Gerry Salapuddin, Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, and his brother Jim, had wanted Rep. Wahab Akbar liquidated to end the political monopoly in the province.

This was according Unkaya Pukan, Basilan Mayor Joel Maturan, citing the confession of one of the suspects in the killing, Ikram Indama.

Maturan said his cousin had admitted having a grudge against Salapuddin, his former employer.

“He had a grudge against his former boss Salapuddin who told him that he was no longer needed. He admitted carrying out the orders of Salapuddin and the Hatamans but later left him in the open,” Maturan said after visiting Indama at the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Maturan claimed Indama even cried when he revealed all the details of the plot to kill Akbar.

Maturan said Indama even instructed him to reveal their conversations before the media.

Quoting Indama, Maturan said Salapuddin and the Hataman brothers allegedly ordered several men to carry out a bomb attack against Akbar in the effort to end his political control of Basilan.

Maturan said Indama pointed to Salapuddin and the Hatamans as the brains behind the explosion at the House of Representatives last Nov. 13, which killed Akbar and three others and injured over a dozen.

“It was the content of his sworn affidavit that he (Indama) had signed and submitted to the Department of Justice,“ Maturan pointed out.

“Ikram said that it was Salapuddin and Mujiv Hataman and Jim Hataman who ordered them (suspects) because they claimed that nothing was going to happen to the politics in Basilan for as long as Akbar was alive,” Maturan told reporters in Filipino.

Salapuddin and the Hatamans have denied their involvement in the killing after they separately submitted their sworn statements before the CIDG.

Maturan said Indama has been Salapuddin’s personal driver for years.

He claimed seeing Indama driving Salapuddin to an Army operation in Basilan last Sept. 2.

Maturan said Indama confided to him the plan to kill Akbar was hatched last August.

He said the suspects frequented Salapuddin’s residence in Isabela, Basilan to map out the details of the plot.

Indama earlier admitted parking the bomb-laden motorcycle at the south wing entrance of the Batasan complex where Akbar and the other victims of the explosion had just emerged. 

Police said the bomb was remote detonated allegedly by Benjamin “Jang” Hataman, a cousin of the Hatamans who is also under police custody.

NCR-CIDG chief Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina said they will submit all findings to the Department of Justice on Nov. 29 for the preliminary investigation.

Sources said Indama’s effort to cooperate with the police in the investigation could qualify him as a state witness.

No retribution

Despite this, Akbar’s family members said they would not take revenge on their political opponents.

Akbar’s niece, Lantawan town Mayor Tahira Ismael told a news forum in Quezon City that when the congressman was still alive, he told family members that they should not retaliate against their enemies in case he was assassinated.

“We will follow what he had told us. There will be no retaliation. There will be no clan war. We will leave this matter to God and the authorities,” Ismael said.

The widow, Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar said their family has full trust and confidence in the country’s justice system.

She said they would accept the results of the police investigation on the death of her husband.

She also said the late congressman was aware of threats on his life but that he did not think these would be carried out inside the Batasan complex.“He thought the Batasan was the safest place for him.”

Salapuddin and Rep. Hataman have been linked to Akbar’s death by association or blood relations with some detained suspects.

Indama is a former driver of Salapuddin, while another suspect, Benjamin Hataman, is a cousin of Rep. Hataman. A third suspect, former Tuburan mayor Hajarun Jamiri, is a political supporter of Salapuddin.

Jim Hataman, on the other hand, lost to Akbar in the last May elections. He filed an election protest against Akbar.

Rep. Hataman, a member of the opposition bloc in the House, said he welcomes the Akbars’ assurance that they will not take revenge on their political opponents.

“I believe them. In the first place, we have nothing to do with it. My only worry is that other people might take advantage of the situation,” he said.

Speaker Jose de Venecia has designated Zamboanga City Rep. Ma. Isabelle Climaco to temporarily take the place of the slain Muslim lawmaker. – With Delon Porcalla