The National Bureau of Investigation on Friday reported that its operatives in the National Capital Region raided the suspected safehouses of former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag but failed to find the embattled ex-BuCor officials.
Initial reports disclosed that the NBI had been on the lookout for Bantag’s possible whereabouts as he remains accused of allegedly ordering the assassination of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid.
The NBI said that its personnel checked the former BuCor chief’s possible hiding place in in Caloocan and Laguna but it went to naught. However, the agency remained optimistic as it vowed to continue the manhunt in other locations.
To recall, the Muntinlupa court archived the murder case against Bantag and his co-accused due to his absence.
In 2022, the broadcaster was shot dead near his home in 2022 after making comments online that appeared to link Bantag to corruption.
Bantag was also accused of ordering the killing of Cristito Villamor Palana, the alleged middleman, who allegedly passed the kill order to the gunman to kill Mabasa. The former BuCor official previously denied any connection or role in the killings.
The killings exposed alleged abuses in the country’s overcrowded prisons in the spotlight.
Bantag also admitted that he ordered a huge pit dug beside his home inside the National Bilibid Prison, but denied it was an escape tunnel for inmates as he explained that he wanted to create the “deepest swimming pool” in Manila, to use for scuba diving to prepare his men in any emergencies.
Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had said that Bantag told him he was searching for a fabled treasure stolen by Japanese forces in World War II and rumored to be buried in the Philippines.