MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) A key witness in the explosion at the House of Representatives last November 2007 allegedly escaped police custody early Monday morning, a police official said.

Chief Superintendent Raul Castañeda, Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) director, identified the witness as Ikram Indama, an alleged member of group Abu Sayyaf and a star witness in the bombing at the Batasan Pambansa building that killed at least four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounded several others.

Indama, who escaped at 6 a.m., allegedly has proof that would implicate former Basilan Congressman Gerry Salapuddin in the incident, Castañeda said.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) placed Indama under its witness protection program last July 10. The witness protection program is set to expire after 90 days this Friday.

Because Indama allegedly violated the provisions stated in the witness protection program, there was a possibility that he would become a suspect instead of a witness, said Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina, CIDG chief of staff.

“Suffice it to say, bahala na ang mga taga-DoJ na mag-evaluate kung ano effect nito [it’s up to the DoJ to evaluate what its effects would be]. I think the immediate effect, since he violated his contract [with the DOJ] as a witness, he will become, once again, a suspect,” he added.

But Dolina was quick to add that they would leave it to the DoJ to determine the liability, whether criminal or administrative, of Indama, but police would continue to look for him.

“As I said, yung directive naming [our directive] is that we will conduct an investigation as what are the circumstances surrounding his escape. After the investigation we will make the proper recommendation,” he said.

Castañeda said police were now looking for Indama and coordinating with his family for his return to police custody.

“We would like to investigate the circumstances why this happened. Let's see what the reason is. Who knows if he's still out there. Baka nagkaproblema lang ng konti [there could have been a slight problem], that's why we're inviting him to come back,” he said.

Castañeda added that police were also looking into the reason why Indama escaped.

“Kung gusto niya na iba mag-custody sa kanya, sabihin niya sa amin [If he wants to be under the custody of another group, he should tell us]. There's no problem about that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Castañeda said they would also look into the liability of the CIDG-NCR personnel manning Indama before his escape.

Police are now searching for Indama, Castañeda said.