FILE PHOTO: Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines – Suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director general Gerald Bantag is facing a murder complaint filed by the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation for allegedly giving the order to kill Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, as well as the supposed middleman in the case.
Murder complaints have likewise been lodged against BuCor Deputy Security Officer Ricardo Zulueta and other persons deprived of liberties linked to the murder of Lapid and the alleged middleman, Cristito Palaña, earlier referred to as Jun or Crisanto Villamor.
“[Bantag] will probably the highest official of this land to be charged with a case of this gravity,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said in a news conference on Monday.
Mabasa, the tough talking voice behind scathing commentaries aired on DWBL 1242’s “Lapid Fire,” was ambushed and gunned down near the gate of a Las Piñas City subdivision last October 3.
Mabasa’s death renewed the call to end media attacks and killings in the country as he was the second journalist murdered under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The first was the fatal stabbing of radio host Renato Blanco in Negros Oriental last September.
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