A former mayor of a south Philippine town tagged a House representative as the brains behind the explosion at the House of Representatives on Nov. 13 that killed four people including a lawmaker Wahab Akbar, local media reported on Wednesday.
Former Tuburan town mayor Hajuron Jamiri, who had been charged with multiple murder and frustrated multiple murder for the House blast, claimed in his two-page affidavit that Representative Mujiv Hataman and his brother Jim Hataman wanted Akbar dead because Basilan would "not be at peace" under his administration, the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper said in a report posted on its website, citing Jamiri's lawyer Confessor Sansano.
Jamiri was arrested in the country's capital of Manila a week after the blast and in possession of a .45 caliber pistol without permit to carry outside residence.
Jim Hataman was the opponent of Akbar during the election of lawmakers this year.
"In his supplemental affidavit, he (Jamiri) linked the Hataman brothers to the blast. According to Jamiri, the brothers ordered the assassination so that Basilan would be peaceful," said Sansano.
Sansano said the affidavit was signed on Nov. 23.
A preliminary investigation was set on Nov. 29 where police would announce the alleged masterminds of the blast, said Police Director Geary Barias, National Capital Region Police Office chief, in a separate interview.
The Hataman brothers had denied the allegations.
Three other suspects, Ikram Indama, Adham Kusaim, and Khaidar Awnal, have also been charged after admitting participation in the explosion.
On Nov. 13, a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded at the South wing of the House of Representatives, killing Akbar and three others.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)
