The police are getting closer to identifying the mastermind behind the murder of broadcaster Percival Mabasa, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said Tuesday.
“I think the evidence that we are getting are leading us closer to the mastermind of the case because we already have in our custody (the confessed gunman) Joel Escorial and some information are coming in from the different sectors,” Azurin said on ANC’s show “Headstart.”
He also said the sister of alleged middleman Cristito Villamor Palaña went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with crucial information regarding the case.
Palaña, previously identified as Crisanto or Jun Villamor, died at the New Bilibid Prison on the same day that Escorial confessed to killing Mabasa.
Azurin said foul play might have been involved in Palaña’s death, noting that officials at the state penitentiary failed to keep him safe.
For his part, suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director general Gerald Bantag linked his suspension to his enemies, including drug lords.
“I have stepped on many toes. Drugs lord — let’s mention of all them. They would surely celebrate,” said Bantag, who was placed under preventive suspension and tagged as person of interest after Palaña’s death at the Bilibid.
He was replaced by BuCor OIC Gregorio Catapang, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Mabasa, a commentator popularly known as Percy Lapid on dwIZ and dwBL, was shot dead on Oct. 3 in Las Piñas City.
A vocal critic of the Duterte administration, Mabasa was the second journalist killed under the Marcos administration.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday said Escorial did not submit a counter-affidavit to contest the murder complaint filed against him by the PNP.
DOJ-National Prosecution Service head, Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said that during the preliminary investigation of the PNP’s complaint on Monday, Oct. 24, Escorial submitted an affidavit containing his supplemental extrajudicial confession.
When presented for inquest last Oct. 18, the DOJ said that Escorial “acknowledged that on 03 October 2022, at around 8:30 p.m., in Aria Street, Sta. Cecilia Village, Barangay Talon Dos, Las Pinas City, he shot Percy Lapid three (3) times using a caliber .45 pistol, and that he was accompanied by Israel Adao Dimaculangan, Edmon Adao Dimaculangan and a certain alias ‘Orly/Orlando.’”
The Dimaculangans and “Orly/Orlando” were also named in the PNP’s murder complaint but they are still at large.
The next preliminary investigation has been set for Nov. 4.
The DOJ also said “Marisa,” the sister of the dead middleman who allegedly contracted Escorial to kill Mabasa, has been admitted to the government’s Witness Protection Program.
“When we saw that there was risk to her life, we immediately placed her under the WPP (and sent her to a temporary shelter),” DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesman Jose Dominic Clavano IV said.
The woman is the sister of Palaña, an inmate of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City who has been tagged as the “middleman” who hired the gunman in the murder of Mabasa.
Palaña died while confined at the NBP on the afternoon of Oct. 18 after Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos presented Escorial on the morning of the same day.
“When she came here, she met Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla and gave information about her dead brother,” Clavano said.
“From there we saw that the information was relevant in the case of her brother and, because of this, we called witness protection to interview the witness,” the Justice official added.
Clavano said the interview of the witness was meant to determine the extent of the threat against her.
The woman was able to talk to her brother through the Messenger application before he died, he said.
“There were names mentioned, but all these are allegations as of now. So, we have to verify, we have to vet,” Clavano added.
In Senator Raffy Tulfo’s program, “Wanted sa Radyo” on Monday, “Marisa” said she has the names of three persons who could be behind the suspicious and sudden death of his brother.
The sister told Tulfo that Villamor messaged her through Facebook messenger at 11:59 am on October 18, just few hours before his death, to bare the names of three inmates who should be investigated should he be killed in prison.
In an interview with ABS-CBN, “Marisa” said three commanders from the Sputnik, Happy Go Lucky and BCJ gangs gave the order to kill Mabasa.
Also on Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the government to protect the Mabasa family, which has been the target of threats and harassment since his murder.
Hontiveros issued the call for the greater protection after she visited the family upon their request.
“The family of Percy has been alarmed. His children were being sent threats on their Facebook or their personal cell phone numbers,” Hontiveros said.
She even said that one family member got a text message, saying he will be next.