Court frees kin of suicide bomber

DAVAO CITY — "Malaya na kami (We’re free!) What is important is we are free. And all we want is to go home."

The 57-year-old Undungan Sudang gladly told reporters of their newly-granted freedom at the receiving area of the Davao City Jail while waiting for their release papers at around five o’clock yesterday afternoon.

"Sinabi ko na noon, wala kaming kasalanan (I have said before, we are not guilty)," Undungan added while walking to the gate of the jail where the vehicle that would take them home to Barangay Simone in Kabacan, North Cotabato, was waiting for them.

Regional Trial Court Branch 17 Judge Paul Arcangel ordered yesterday morning the immediate release of Undungan and his brother Terso after the City Prosecutor’s Office here recommended the dismissal of the multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder charges against them for the March 4 bombing that ripped through a crowded waiting shed at the Davao International Airport that left 22 people dead and 159 others wounded.

Terso and Undungan, father and uncle respectively of Montasher Sudang, the suspected suicide bomber who was among those who perished in the airport blast, were implicated in the charges for their reportedly being active members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Montasher was earlier tagged as tasked by the MILF command to carry out the bombing mission by placing a black backpack under the benches of the waiting shed that actually contained the explosives that went off.

The two elderly Sudangs were arrested the day after the airport bombing by elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) when they attempted to retrieve the remains of Montasher at the morgue of the Davao Medical Center.

The city prosecutor’s office recommended that the Sudangs be freed after finding nothing among the evidence presented that would warrant their involvement in the airport bombing.

Montasher and other members of the Sudang family were actually at the Davao airport during the incident to meet their cousin Tarhata, who worked as a domestic helper in Egypt, and was arriving on board the Cebu Pacific flight from Manila that afternoon.

The defense of the Sudangs was handled by lawyers Edgardo Camello, Hamlet Palumar and John Marasigan, who all rendered their services for free.

"We are glad that they are finally free. They really deserve to be free. We are thankful to city prosecutors for their efforts to really go over the case and the RTC judge for the swift and decisive action on the matter. We are glad it is over," Camello told The STAR.

Interestingly, the release of the Sudangs also coincided with the admission last week of a certain Jimmy Balulao, who claimed that he was the one who placed the black backpack under one of the benches at the airport waiting shed.

Balulao was among the five suspects who were arrested last week by joint police and military operatives in Cotabato City and who were all implicated in both the airport bombing and the April 2 bombing that struck the Sasa wharf here, killing 16 people and wounding 57 others.