BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
November 14, 2007 – 7:54pm

At least 200 activists belonging to the Bagong Alyansang makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) staged a rally along the Elliptical Road in Quezon City late afternoon today to condemn last night’s bombing of the Batasang Pambansa which has so far claimed three lives and injured several other persons. They also demanded an independent and impartial investigation into the bombing.

“There should be an independent and thorough probe of the incident,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes, Jr. said during the rally. “It should not be an investigation where the results lack credibility. There should be no cover-up.”

A bomb exploded at around 8:15 p.m. last night at the parking lot near the South Wing lobby of the Batasang Pambansa.

The explosion killed Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar; Marcial Taldo, driver of Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) Rep. Luz Ilagan; and Maan Bustaliño, staff member of Negros Oriental Rep. Pryde Henry Teves. Injured were Ilagan and Teves; Ismael Lim, driver of GWP Rep. Liza Maza; and several congressional staff members.

The bombing took place a day after former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. and leader of militant groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of Representatives, and on the eve of a Senate investigation into last month’s Malacañang bribery scandal — in which some 190 congressmen and governors received “cash gifts” during a “breakfast meeting” at the presidential palace.

The “cash gifts” were handed out on the heels of testimonies hinting at the First Family’s involvement in the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.

A few days after the bribery scam hit the headlines, an explosion rocked the Glorietta mall in Makati City, killing four people and maiming several others. The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) insists the Glorietta blast was a “methane gas” explosion, but investigators’ findings also pointed to the presence of RDX, a C4 component, in the blast site. C4 is a military-issued explosive substance.

“It should also be determined whether or not the bombing also targeted Rep. Luz Ilagan, a known Arroyo critic, or if it was a diversionary tactic to cover up the impeachment issue and the Senate investigation on the Malacañang bribery scandal,” Reyes said. (Bulatlat.com)

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