Lapid slay: Persons of interest
Some 160 people, including suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag, are considered persons of interest in the killing of broadcaster Percival Mabasa, police said at a press briefing in Camp Crame Monday.
The list includes politicians, military officials and police who had been criticized by Mabasa, said Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr., who said investigators reviewed 600 social media postings by the broadcaster, who goes by the name Percy Lapid.
Police were determining which among these persons of interest were most frequently discussed in Mabasa’s radio program.
Bantag was suspended last week after the alleged middleman, Cristito “Jun” Villamor, an inmate, died in the New Bilibid Prison where he was detained.
Azurin said investigators were not ruling out foul play in the middleman’s death.
Mabasa was shot dead while on his way home in Las Piñas City on Oct. 3.
The alleged gunman, Joel Escorial, has surrendered to the police and identified the middleman who offered to pay them P550,000 to kill Mabasa.
At the same briefing, Azurin contradicted Southern Police District (SPD) director Police Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft, who earlier said the case was already solved since the suspects were identified and apprehended.
“We cannot say yet that the case is already solved, although we have filed the cases already initially against Escorial and his accomplices,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
He added they have yet to determine who the mastermind was and where the order came from.
Azurin added that investigators need to know if the mastermind only communicated with the middlemen in the plot to kill Mabasa or if more people were involved.
After surrendering to the police, Escorial identified his cohorts as siblings Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan and a certain Orlando or Orly, who are still at large. He also said two inmates at the NBP, Cristito Villamor and Christopher Bacoto, acted as middlemen—one of them contracting the murder for P550,000 and the other who recruited his three companions.
On Oct. 20, however, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Villamor died inside NBP on Oct. 18.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered Bantag suspended shortly afterward.
“Definitely he is a person of interest at least for reckless imprudence,” Remulla said of Bantag.
Remulla said he learned that the Mabasa family planned to file a case of reckless imprudence resulting in murder against Bantag.
Lawyer Berteni Causing, also the spokesperson of the Mabasa family, confirmed that they were studying the filing of a criminal case against Bantag.
“If there was no imprudence, then there would be no cell phone inside the prison,” Causing said.
Causing said the family will also be filing an administrative case against Bantag, either before the DOJ or before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The lawyer was present during the first hearing on the preliminary investigation of the murder complaint filed against Escorial and his three co-respondents, namely: brothers Israel Adao Dimaculangan and Edmon Dimaculangan, and a certain “Orly” or “Orlando.”
Like Azurin, Causing disputed Kraft’s claim that the case was already solved.
“Until we get to the bottom of it, the mastermind, there is no such thing as case closed,” he said.
Remulla agreed.
“We cannot close the case until we know the details and the proper testimonies are in place. We just want the evidence to be secured,” Remulla said.
He said the investigation is still going on in the case.
“All possible suspects are being considered. All angles are being considered. We have to be thorough with this,” he added.
Remulla also said he has asked independent forensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun to examine the remains of Jun Villamor.
Fortun on Monday said the findings of the initial autopsy report submitted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was too vague.
“What they released is just a 2-page memo. It is not a technical report,” she said on the ANC program “Rundown.”
“So if you’re asking what was the cause of death, what’s written there is so vague. I don’t think you can come up with a conclusion. I suspect they don’t have a conclusion yet.”
Fortun said the document released by the NBI only made a general statement about Villamor having no physical injuries.
The Senate, meanwhile, could begin its own investigation of the Mabasa murder by November.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa said Bantag would be among those they will summon to attend a hearing before the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
Dela Rosa, a former BuCor director, said the panel will inquire into the circumstances surrounding Villamor’s death, which would stir suspicion of foul play.
Senator Christopher Go said BuCor must strictly implement the law and regulations inside the NBP to make sure no cell phones or weapons are smuggled into the prison.
Franklin M. Drilon, a former Justice secretary and senator, said the case stands on thin ice without any evidence to corroborate Escorial’s account.
“The prosecution must validate the confessions of self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial with corroborative evidence. This is crucial because the case cannot stand on the testimony alone of the gunman,” Drilon said.
Drilon said that the prosecution should not rely solely on the testimony.
“Suppose he recants, what happens? The prosecution’s case will fall into pieces,” Drilon said.
“I appeal to my former colleagues to let the PNP do their job. I do not know what a Senate investigation can do at this point. Let’s allow the police to finish the investigation. I am not yet convinced that the PNP is not doing its job, but it has to do more,” Drilon said.
Also on Monday, the outgoing spokesperson for BuCor, Gabriel Chaclag, said the bureau will undergo a restructuring in the wake of the suspension of its chief.