Let justice wheels roll
The way we see the police and the NBI narrative, Mayores holds the key or the connection to the alleged masterminds. He should be protected at all costs.
Daily TribuneThe way we see the police and the NBI narrative, Mayores holds the key or the connection to the alleged masterminds. He should be protected at all costs.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla on Monday ended weeks of speculations on who could be behind the ghastly killing of broadcaster Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa on 3 October.
Remulla made good of his pledge last week to tag yesterday the alleged masterminds not only in the killing of Mabasa but also in the purported murder last 18 October of Cristito Palaña, alias "Jun Villamor," inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
The justice secretary named suspended Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag and another BuCor official, Sr. Supt. Ricardo Zulueta, as principals by inducement in both the ambush of Mabasa in Las Piñas and the alleged death by strangulation of Palanas.
By this time, only one crawling out of a rock would not know that Palaña was "killed" just hours after self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial tagged him as the "middleman" in the P550,000 job order to silence Mabasa forever.
Also named respondents in the Mabasa murder complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation and the police were NBP inmates Denver Batungbakal Mayores, Alvin Cornista Labra, Aldrin Micosa Galicia and Alfie Peñaredonda.
In the information, Bantag and Zulueta were accused of inducing the assassination of Mabasa while the NBP inmates were named as principals for their "indispensable cooperation" in the commission of the crime.
The inmates' "cooperation" may be deduced from previous reports averring that the leaders of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik, Batang City Jail, and the Happy Go Lucky gangs coughed up the money to pay the six-person Mabasa kill team led by Escorial. The leader of the Sputnik gang reportedly sourced the hired guns through Villamor.
A separate murder charge for the death of Villamor was filed against Bantag and Zulueta, again as principals by inducement; and against Labra, Micosa, Mario Germones Alvarez, and Joseph Medel Georfo as principals by indispensable cooperation.
Charged as principals by direct participation were Christam Ramac, Ricky Lamigo Salgado, Ronnie Pabustan de la Cruz and Joel Alog Reyes.
According to statements that, according to Remulla, were freely given by the inmates, Bantag and Zulueta ordered the killing of Mabasa for hitting Bantag in his commentaries on mainstream and social media.
The inmates also issued affidavits averring that Bantag and Zulueta also ordered the killing of Villamor, accomplished by putting a plastic bag over his head, to stop him from talking about who ordered the hit.
Bantag has been quiet since his suspension by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as BuCor chief to pave the way for a free investigation of the killings, but that is at it should be. In criminal cases, the adage holds that "less talk, less mistake."
But the buzz coming from Bantag's camp is that the former general is just being painted as the brains behind the slays by drug syndicates whose leaders are incarcerated at BuCor-managed penitentiaries like Bilibid.
According to Bantag's defenders, he is being framed up for the Mabasa-Villamor murders by the drug lords who hated his guts for ordering the non-stop raids of their kubols or housing inside NBP.
Based on the press conference, Villamor may not really be the "middleman" in the killing of Mabasa as the actions ascribed to the deceased gang member properly belonged to a mere recruiter for the job order.
According to the NBI, the direct line of communication on the killing of Mabasa may be established from Bantag and Zuluera to Mayores, Mayores to Labra, and then Labra to Galicia, with Galicia named as the one who ordered the killing of Villamor through their fellow gang members.
Mayores, in penitentiary parlance, refers to a prison boss and if that's really his name and not just an alias, then the irony of ironies is that what we may have here is someone who seemed to have been born destined to a life of crime and as a leader of jailbirds.
The way we see the police and the NBI narrative, Mayores holds the key or the connection to the alleged masterminds. He should be protected at all costs.
As for General Bantag and Zulueta, as well as the others named in the complaint/information filed before prosecutors, they should also welcome this development so they can bring finally their defense before the bar of public opinion and into the bar of justice.