President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is unconvinced that the alleged middleman tagged in the killing of veteran broadcaster "Percy Lapid" died of natural causes.

The President wants the police to dig deeper into the cause of death of Crisanto "Jun" Villamor, a person deprived of liberty who died inside the New Bilibid Prison hours after self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial surrendered to authorities "out of fear."

"The toxicology report came back and mukha talagang walang ano — walang lason o walang gamot na ibinigay doon sa namatay. So… I am still not satisfied that it was natural causes," Marcos told reporters in an ambush interview at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday.

"So sabi ko, tingnan niyo nang mabuti because there are ways to kill a person that does not show up in the medico-legal."

In a televised media briefing of the Department of the Interior and Local Government on 18 October, Escorial claimed that "someone from Bilibid" gave him orders to kill the journalist.

Later on, Escorial named Villamor as the middleman and the one who called him to kill the broadcaster for P550,000.

Even national police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and the victim's family had expressed that they are skeptical over the death of Villamor, whose death certificate showed that he died of "undetermined cause" but had a hemorrhage in his heart based on his autopsy report.

Case build-up

Azurin said the text messages sent to the sister of Villamor are vital in case build-up and in the continuous investigation to identify the mastermind behind Mabasa's killing.

"We will also ask that the cellphone (of Villamor's sister) be turned over to us as part of the evidence so that we could conduct forensic examination and to form part of the evidence that will lead us to the mastermind," Azurin said.

But he said proper coordination will be made especially that the DoJ, through the NBI, is conducting a parallel investigation.

Marcos dismissed claims that he has been silent on the ambush-slaying of Lapid, a hard-hitting radio commentator whose real name is Percival Mabasa, stressing that he has been regularly briefed about the case.

"Well, I have been monitoring… I talked to Justice Secretary (Jesus Crispin) Remulla and Interior Secretary (Benhur) Abalos, three, four, five times a day, and each time we talk about this," Marcos said.

"We do not have any particular directives. The police know what to do. I'll just get in the way. Alam ko iimbestigahan ninyo nang mabuti," he added.

Even so, the President directed investigators to catch the mastermind behind the fatal shooting of Mabasa.

"So tuloy-tuloy pa ang imbestigasyon. But more importantly, is to really trace saan nanggaling ito? Who gave the order? Sino 'yung — sino nagbigay doon sa preso na orderin ang shooter na gawin ito at bakit? That is what we are working on now," he said.

"Alamin natin nang mabuti kung sinong behind this. Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa natin — hindi pa tayo nakakasiguro. So we're investigating," he added.

Remulla on Wednesday said authorities will "exhaust all possible leads" to catch the mastermind.

Under custody

He disclosed that at least six persons whom "Marissa," the sister of the middleman in the Percy Lapid slay, has identified are now under the custody of authorities.

"At least six of them have been secured already.. I think 2 or 3 are in the custody of the Philippine National Police and 3 with the National Bureau of Investigation," Remulla said.

"What is important is that all the persons whom the middleman's sister has named are all in custody now," he continued.

But the justice chief was not sure if the mastermind was among the persons already in custody.

Remulla said that Villamor's sister "Marissa" was taken into the protection of the Witness Protection Program after Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo brought her to the DoJ last Monday.

Based on the initial autopsy report from the National Bureau of Investigation, Villamor died on 18 October and was found with "no apparent sign of external physical injury".

Because of this, Mabasa's family requested that Villamor's body undergo a second autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun.

While Fortun has already finished conducting the autopsy, Remulla said she will be submitting a written report on Friday, 28 October.

Mabasa, 63, was killed by an assailant onboard a motorcycle at the gate of a subdivision in Las Piñas City on 3 October.