Top ARMM bet: No pending case against me

MANILA, Philippines - Former party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, a top contender for officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), disputed yesterday the claim of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that there is still a pending case against him in connection with the bombing at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City in 2007.

Hataman, of the party-list group Anak Mindanao, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the charges against him on Feb. 22, 2008 for lack of evidence.

“I repeatedly read the resolution of the special DOJ panel and it’s very clear that they cleared me because there was no probable case to indict me in court,” he said in a radio interview.

“Since then, no motion for reconsideration or a petition for review has been filed. From what I know, a motion for reconsideration has to be filed within 15 days. And now, suddenly, there is an MR or a petition for review? This is clearly a demolition job,” he said.

De Lima claimed that there is an appeal for a review of Hataman’s case, though this case would not be an obstacle to his appointment as OIC of the ARMM if President Aquino chooses him.

He said if there is indeed a petition for review or a motion for reconsideration, he has not been furnished a copy and the DOJ has not sought his comment.

The DOJ, however, dismissed the petition for review filed by the families of the victims in the Batasan Pambansa bombing.

The department affirmed the findings of investigating prosecutors clearing Hataman in charges related to the Nov. 13, 2007 bomb attack at the Batasan Pambansa.

“In the instant case, we find no reversible error in the assailed resolution dismissing the complaint against respondents for the complex crime of multiple murder and frustrated murder,” read the resolution signed by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano for the office of Justice Secretary De Lima.

The resolution was released yesterday, just a day after the DOJ confirmed the case against Hataman was still pending before it.

It stood by the resolutions issued on Feb. 22, 2008 and April 2, 2008 that dismissed for insufficiency of evidence the complaint for multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and multiple physical injuries against Hataman filed by the families of Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar and four congressional staff members who were killed in the bombing.

Hataman and his brother Jim were cleared by the DOJ in the crime after three suspects – Ikram Indama, Caidar Aunal and Adham Kusain – recanted their testimonies that identified the brothers as alleged masterminds of the attack.

Aunal and Kusain claimed they were coerced and tortured into making their earlier statements by investigators of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Former Basilan congressman Abdulgani Salapuddin was also earlier cleared but later charged in court for the crime after a review by the Court of Appeals.

Hataman and President Aquino were colleagues in the opposition bloc in the House of Representatives when Aquino was a Tarlac congressman.

He said the President has not talked to him about the ARMM post.

Hataman admitted that he and Aquino were friends during their days as congressmen.

Senators Panfilo Lacson and Antonio Trillanes IV have endorsed Hataman for ARMM OIC-governor.

“Without preempting the President as it is now his exclusive right under the law to choose the OIC of ARMM, I would consider Congressman Mujiv Hataman as the best choice for the position,” Lacson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Trillanes said the former congressman is “very much qualified” for the post.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed concern that the decision of the Supreme Court declaring as constitutional the power of the President to appoint officers-in-charge for the ARMM would only bolster the intention of the administration to lord it over the region.

Marcos, who conducted hearings for Republic Act 10153 while it was still in Congress and came out with an adverse recommendation, insisted that the law took away the right of the residents of ARMM to choose their own leaders and made a mockery of the supposedly autonomous status of the region.

He said that the ruling of the Supreme Court merely strengthened the Aquino administration’s efforts to gain an edge for its candidates for the 2013 elections.

“That is exactly what it is all about. This is a political move for the Liberal Party to put in position their own people in preparation for 2013. I believe this is very clear to everyone concerned,” Marcos said.

Hataman vowed to stop the proliferation of warlords and institutionalize anti-corruption measures once appointed as ARMM OIC.

He said many Filipinos have a negative perception about the ARMM, particularly on violence and warlords, corruption, and fraudulent elections.

The negative perception is not without basis and is caused by “misgovernance” by previous ARMM leaders and often abetted by the sitting administration, he said. – With Edu Punay, Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero