Bantag, chief aide, ‘brains’ behind Mabasa slay

SUSPENDED Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director general, Gerald Bantag, his chief aide, Senior Jail Officer 2 and former BuCor Deputy Security Officer Ricardo Zulueta, were charged for double murder on Monday, November 7, 2022, after they turned out to be the ‘principals’ behind the killing last October 3, 2022 of radio blocktimer, Percival Mabasa, aka, ‘Percy Lapid’ and the subsequent death two weeks later inside Bilibid of one of the suspects, Crestituto Villamor Palaña, aka, ‘Jun Villamor.’

At a joint press conference with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) right after the filing of the cases, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla, said all evidence they have thus far gathered points to the culpability of Bantag and Zulueta to the two deaths, as he rejected the insertion of politics into the incidents by the Mabasa family.

Villamor ended up dead on October 18, 2022, inside the National Bilibid Penitentiary (NBP), just hours after DILG secretary, Benhur Abalos, presented to the media Joel Escorial, the self-confessed gunman of Mabasa.

Escorial surrendered a day before and named an inmate at the Bilibid who gave them the go-ahead to kill Mabasa. The inmate turned out to be Villamor.

Roy Mabasa, brother of Percival, wants former President Rodrigo Duterte to be included in the list of some 160 ‘persons of interest’ (POIs) that investigators came up with as the probe on Percival’s death unfolded. The Mabasas are known supporters of former Vice President Leni Robredo.

But according to Remulla, they have not uncovered any evidence to support Roy’s ‘theory.’

“This is where the investigation begins and ends,” the justice secretary said, referring to the filing of charges against Bantag and his accomplices.

“We cannot bring it to that level (Roy’s claim against Duterte). That’s political. We’re not concerned about the politics. We’re concerned about the crimes,” Remulla stressed, adding:

“We don’t see anyone else. We still haven’t seen anyone else. We just follow the money, and we just follow the evidence. It’s hard to speculate.”

Aside from Bantag and Zulueta, also charged as ‘principals by indispensable cooperation’ for Mabasa’s death were NBP inmates, Denver Batungbakal Mayores, Alvin Cornista Labra, Aldrin Miscosa Galicia and Alfie Penaredonda.

For the death of Villamor, charged were Bantag, Zulueta as principals by inducement, while inmates Labra, Galicia, Mario Germones Alvarez and Joseph Medel Georfo were charged as principals by indispensable cooperation.

On the sidelines of the 86^th anniversary of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) held in Manila this November 9, 2022, Remulla called on Bantag and Zulueta to “man up” and submit their counter-affidavits, instead of expounding their positions before the media.

Sumagot sila (by way of) counter-affidavit. Huwag sila sa media sasagot. Mag counter-affidavit  sila, ‘yan ang proseso ng batas natin. Face it! Ang dami-daming ‘drama,’” Remulla said, as he also confirmed that as of Wednesday, Bantag and Zulueta, who has gone ‘AWOL’ (absent without leave), have not yet sent any “feeler” to him. The BuCor is an agency under the DOJ.

Remulla however believes that the two has not yet left the country. But as a precautionary measure, he said the DOJ has also requested the court to issue a ‘PHDO’ (precautionary hold departure order) against them. “The only way they can flee the country is if somehow they managed to get (new) passports concealing their true identity,” Remulla said, further noting that as government officials, Bantag and Zulueta are first required to get authority to travel from his office.

NBI to get ‘first crack’ over Bilibid deaths

In the same presser, Remulla said the NBI would have the “first crack” in investigating the suspicious deaths inside Bilibid during the term of Bantag.

During the first autopsy conducted by the NBI on Villamor at the Eastern Funeral Homes last October 20, 2022, Remulla said the agents were “surprised” to discover the cadavers of 30 persons who have died inside Bilibid.

The number, as of this posting, now stood at 189.

He said they are to sign an agreement with the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for the conduct of an autopsy on all the bodies to determine the cause of death, starting with the bodies of 120 inmates.

“The NBI will have the first crack at this as this is a DOJ undertaking but the result will be shared with the police (Philippine National Police), he added.

“We want to know how all of these people died, the cause of death, and the circumstances surrounding their death.”

Remulla had earlier said that the a “criminal syndicate” has been lording it over at the NBP, as proved by the number of dead inmates as well as the recent ‘Oplan Galugad’ conducted by new BuCor director general, Gregorio Catapang, a former Armed Forces chief of staff.

Catapang replaced Bantag as NBP officer in charge last October 21, 2022, with the approval of Pres. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.

On taking over, Catapang said he immediately conducted a “dialogue” with crime gang leaders that resulted to their “voluntary” surrender of the confiscated items during a press conference last November 2, 2022.

The turned-over contrabands, consisting of an assortment of bladed weapons, illegal drugs, flat-screen televisions, more than P50,000 cash, cellphones, laptop computers and over 7,000 cans of beer (sold for P1,000 per can), all pointed to the existence of a “criminal organization” inside the NBP, Remulla pointed out.

“The centralized purchasing system, a centralized way of doing contraband selling and contraband work within a prison system, I think that itself will tell you that there is a criminal organization lurking within (the NBP)” Remulla said.