By Carlos H. Conde
The New York Times
International Herald Tribune
Published: November 14, 2007
MANILA, Nov. 13 — An explosion on Tuesday evening in the Philippine House of Representatives killed three people, one of them a lawmaker, and wounded several others.
The blast, which occurred around 8:15 p.m. at the south lobby of the main building of the House of Representatives, killed Wahab Akbar, a congressman. Also killed was Marcial Talbo, the driver of Representative Luz Ilagan. The Associated Press also reported that a congressional staff member died in the attack.
Ms. Ilagan was wounded in her right leg and back, and another congressman, Henry Teves, was in critical condition at the hospital, officials said.
At least eight people, some of them congressional staff members, were also hurt in the explosion, according to the police, who have declared a full alert in the capital.
The House speaker, José de Venecia Jr., confirmed Mr. Akbar’s death and called the explosion “an act of terrorism.”
“I don’t want to be frightened by these terrorists and destabilizers, so I have ordered the sessions to resume tomorrow,” Mr. de Venecia said in a phone interview. He said the police were going to sweep the Congress premises the rest of the night for other possible explosives.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the country’s police chief, Avelino Razon, to lead the investigation of the blast, her spokesman said.
The police said Mr. Akbar might have been the target of an assassination attack. “From what we saw, it looks like Congressman Akbar was the target of the attack,” Geary Barias, the police chief of the Manila, told local radio reporters.
A witness, Sandra Cam, told radio station DZBB that Mr. Akbar was talking on his cellphone and was on his way to his sport utility vehicle when the explosion occurred.
Cris Puno, a spokesman for Mr. Akbar, told reporters that the attack was directed at the congressman and may have been planned by his political rivals. Mr. Akbar and his family have for decades ruled Basilan, an island in the south notorious for being a sanctuary of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group. His first wife is the current governor while another wife is the mayor of Isabela, the provincial capital. Mr. Akbar, a Muslim, was a former governor of the province and was an important figure in the American-supported campaign to stamp out the Abu Sayyaf in his province.
The police, meanwhile, said that it was a “coordinated attack” and that the bomb may have been remotely detonated, according to Chief Barias. “We’re still trying to find out what happened, where the explosion actually took place,” he told reporters at the scene.
Police officers, emergency workers and firefighters were still arriving on the scene around 8:30 p.m. The explosion set off a fire in the south wing of the building, ABS-CBN television reported. The network broadcast images of damage to the lobby ceiling.
A member of Ms. Ilagan’s staff said the blast, which took place a few minutes after the session on Tuesday evening, damaged the congresswoman’s van as well as Mr. Akbar’s vehicle. The police said that they did not know what type of explosive, if any, had been used.
Mr. de Venecia said he had just left the compound when the explosion took place and immediately rushed back.
Representative Joel Villanueva, in an interview with radio station DZBB, said he heard a “very loud explosion” and saw at least four wounded people. The wounded were taken to the House clinic as well as to a nearby hospital.
The explosion at the Congress, the first such incident in its history, came a few weeks after an explosion in a shopping mall killed 11 people and injured dozens of others. The authorities said the blast could have been an accident, although they were not ruling out terrorism.
The legislators are deliberating whether to impeach Mrs. Arroyo, who is being accused of corruption and human rights violations.
The Philippines is home to several terrorist groups, including the Abu Sayyaf, which is responsible for the worst attacks in the country. Western countries led by the United States have offered millions of dollars in aid and security assistance to help the Philippine government fight Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah, the terrorist network in Indonesia that is accused of having ties to Al Qaeda.
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