A man was jailed for life Friday over the deaths of a congressman and several others in the Batasang Pambansa bombing a decade ago.
Ikram Indama was found guilty of the November 13, 2007 murders of House of Representatives member Wahab Akbar and five others in a motorcycle bomb attack which wounded several more including two other legislators.
Indama, who worked as a driver for Gerry Salapuddin, Akbar’s bitter political rival in Basilan, was also ordered by the court to pay P205,000 in damages to each of the fatalities.
He was also ordered by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 Judge Ralph Lee to pay the 10 injured persons P95,000 each in damages.
The injured were then-Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, then-Rep. Henry Teves, Israel Lim, Kumhar Indanan, Larry Noda, Paula Dunga, Rodolfo Relente, Allan Mangulabnan, Frederick Del Castillo and Vercita Garcia.
The two other accused, Caidar Aunal and Adham Kusain, were acquitted of the charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder for insufficiency of evidence.
State prosecutor Peter Ong told AFP Indama helped to assemble the bomb in a motorcycle, and then parked the vehicle outside the lobby of the House of Representatives.
The court heard that Indama and several other suspects assembled the motorcycle bomb at a Manila house owned by Salapuddin.
Murder charges against Salapuddin, however, were thrown out in 2013 by the Supreme Court, which effectively upheld a Department of Justice’s decision to exclude him from the indictment.
Akbar was assassinated six months after his wife defeated Salapuddin in the Basilan gubernatorial election.
Indama, Aunal and Kusain were arrested by the police two days after the assassination.
They pleaded not guilty.
Lee has issued a bench warrant against several other suspects, including a police officer, who remain at large, according to court records.With reports from Eagle News Service, Agence France Presse
