‘Bantag’ ordered Lapid murder, says gunman
‘Let the NBI and the PNP name the people that they want to charge before the courts. My job is to make sure the process works.’
Daily Tribune‘Let the NBI and the PNP name the people that they want to charge before the courts. My job is to make sure the process works.’
Photo by Joey Sanchez Mendoza
As more criminal complaints are set to be filed on Monday, 7 November against those involved in the murder of broadcaster Percy Mabasa or Percy Lapid, the plot thickens with vital revelations from gunman Joel Escorial.
In a supplemental affidavit executed on 22 October – four days after his surrender and the death of middleman Cristito Villamor Jr. – Escorial had included a certain "Bantag" as the one who ordered the murder of Lapid.
According to Escorial's supplemental affidavit, Villamor, before his death, told him that it was a certain "Bantag" who had ordered Lapid killed.
A GMA report said Escorial did not say if this "Bantag" was Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag at that time.
The supplemental affidavit was one of the documents submitted in the preliminary investigation of Lapid's murder before the Department of Justice.
Escorial reportedly said Villamor requested him to keep the identity of the person who ordered the murder or the latter would himself be killed.
This is said to be the reason that Escorial did not mention Bantag's name after his surrender.
Meanwhile, additional criminal complaints will be filed against those involved in the murder of Lapid.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday said the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police are expected to file the cases against the suspects in the death of Cristito Villamor Jr., an inmate who was tagged as "middleman" in the Lapid murder.
The NBI and the PNP, Remulla said, are coordinating on the possible charges about the death of Lapid and Villamor.
"There are two or three people that we still want to talk to just to be thorough about everything," he said, describing the three persons as "very high in the chain in the Percy Lapid case."
"Let the NBI and the PNP name the people that they want to charge before the courts. My job is to make sure the process works," he said.
A murder complaint has been filed by the PNP before the Department of Justice against self-confessed gunman Escorial.
A preliminary investigation was conducted by the DoJ as far as Escorial's co-respondents – brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan, and a person identified only as "Orly" or "Orlando" — are concerned.
The three co-respondents remain scot-free.
Several "persons of interest" in the Lapid killing and in Villamor's death are now in the custody of both the NBI and the PNP.
Escorial claimed he shot Percy Lapid three times on 3 October.
Forensic pathologist, Dr. Raquel B. Del Rosario-Fortun, in the case of Villamor, said "based on available information regarding the circumstances surrounding the death the manner is homicide."
"There is information that Villamor expressed fear for his life shortly before his demise and that he died from suffocation using a plastic bag over his head," Fortun said.
She added that the autopsy findings showed no gross morphologic cause of death and this is consistent with the reported asphyxia.
Not qualified for WPP
As this developed, Justice Assistant Secretary and spokesperson, Atty. Mico Clavano, yesterday said Escorial and alleged second middleman Christopher Bacoto might not qualify as government witnesses.
Escorial and Bacoto, according to Clavano, are both maximum security inmates, making them ineligible for admission into the government's Witness Protection Program.
"At the witness protection program, it seems malabo iyun (impossible) because there are requirements, and the last one there — they should not have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude," Clavano said when asked if the two are qualified for WPP admission.
"Because they are in maximum security most likely they are convicted of a crime that involved moral turpitude, so they are not qualified," he added.
Escorial, 39, has surrendered to authorities out of fear for his personal safety.
He admitted that he, along with brothers Israel and Edmon Dimaculangan, and a certain "Orlando," who are all at large, were responsible for the killing of Lapid.
He claimed the order to assassinate Lapid allegedly came from inside the walls of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
There were six of them to do the hit and were paid a total of P550,000, he added.
No soldiers, ex-cops at NBP
Meanwhile, Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang said he will not hire former military and police generals to run the country's jails, pointing out that this will unlikely result in real reforms.
"If I do that, I will just repeat the mistakes of my predecessor. So, I will be on my own, knowing pretty well that the BuCor has a chance to change," he said.
Catapang, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, said he doesn't need outsiders because the people from BuCor understand the problems there better, thus he does not intend to bring military men.
Barely two weeks as BuCor officer-in-charge, Catapang ascended with the suspension of director general Gen. Gerald Bantag, who is among 160 persons of interest in the murder of Lapid.
The incident triggered a sweeping cleanup of Bilibid after it was found that the middleman who hired gun-for-hire killers came from inside the facility and phoned confessed hitman Escorial.
Authorities recently discovered more than 7,000 cans of beer, cellphones, computers, guns, drugs, and other contraband during a so-called "Operation Paglilinis" that forced Catapang to order a deeper probe.
"I was curious about why the prisoners surrendered the contraband. Maybe they really do not own them, maybe they were owned by the personnel," Catapang said.
There are at least 50 BuCor and BJMP personnel currently being investigated due to the contraband inside the NBP.
He vowed that the axe will fall on those who will be found to be responsible for the said contraband.
"They (detainees) could not put up that business inside, because the price is very expensive. You cannot put up such a business without the thumbs up of the guards," he added.
Meanwhile, K-9 dog units will be deployed in the New Bilibid Prison as part of an intensified fight against the smuggling of contraband inside the national penitentiary.
The police dogs can smell not only illegal drugs but also mobile phones and electronic devices. "They (dogs) will not lie. The handlers are very crucial because they might end up being corrupted," Catapang said in Filipino.