the man lying on one of the beds of the emergency room of the nicanor reyes memorial foundation-far eastern university hospital in fairview, quezon city was covered with blood and had burns all over his body. doctors were taking turns in pumping his chest while the nurses were treating his burns. a man in bloodied barong was frantically walking and talking to his mobile phones. i asked the doctors who the patient was. hesitantly, they said it was congressman wahab akbar.

the congressman was in the lobby of the southwest wing of the house of representatives at about 8:00 pm (november 13, 2007)  when a bomb exploded right where he was walking. the two members of his staff along with two other congressmen (henry teves and luz ilagan) were also walking with him and were hit with the blast. two of the drivers outside the lobby who were waiting for their bosses were also hit. one of the drivers died on the spot.

i was the only media man in the e.r. by accident. i was bringing my son, miguel, for shots after he was bitten by our chow chow while playing. at around 9 pm, i heard dr. s.a corpuz telling congressman akbar's staff that his heart has just stopped beating but they are doing everything they can to save the lawmaker. my journalistic ethics forbid me to report that he is dead. i did not try to interview the congressman's second wife, isabela city mayor cherrylyn santos akbar, while she was wailing. i just reported the events as factual and as sensitive as i could.

at 10:20 pm, i heard the declaration - the congressman is dead. when they turned over the body to clean up the other wounds, i saw the burns and shrapnel cuts at the back of his body. he had deep wounds on his face particularly his forehead and jaw. his right leg had burns and deep wounds as well. his left leg was on a cast, apparently broken due to the blast.

house speaker jose devenecia arrived in the hospital at around 10:45 pm. he immediately facilitated the airlifting of congressman akbar's body to basilan. he has to be buried within 24 hours following muslim traditions.

there are numerous speculations surrounding the blast and the death of akbar. some said that akbar was really the target of the bombing since he has enemies in politics. but some are insisting that he was just an accidental victim of terrorism.

the congressman left his four wives and two children, according to his secretary named paul. his first wife is jum, the current governor of basilan. the second one is cherry, the mayor of isabela city. the third wife ran as lamitan mayor last elections but lost. the fourth is the only one who's not into politics.

it is a sad day for the country. we haven't recovered yet from the glorietta tragedy and now we are facing a new one.