The motion of former Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag will be resolved soon, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Bantag earlier filed a motion to inhibit to a panel of prosecutors created by the DOJ to conduct a preliminary investigation into the two murder complaints against Bantag.
The DOJ’s panel of prosecutors has been created to probe the two murder complaints filed against Bantag in connection with the killings of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and inmate Cristito Villamor Palana.
Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento on Tuesday confirmed that the panel has submitted for resolution Bantag’s motion. “The panel will resolve it soon,” Malcontento said.
Bantag’s camp also claimed that it is the Office of the Ombudsman which has jurisdiction to investigate the complaints filed against him.
He had earlier been summoned and ordered to file his counter-affidavit on the murder complaints. Instead, through his lawyer Rocky Balisong, Bantag sought the inhibition of the panel.
The complainants in the two charges—the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Mabasa family – have been asked to filed their comments on the motion to inhibit.
Bantag was allowed to file his reply to the comments and the complaints were given opportunity to file their rejoinders to the reply.
Lapid was killed on Oct. 3, 2022 in Las Pinas City.
Joel S. Escorial confessed to the killing and pointed to Palana as his middleman in the slaying. He also implicated other persons. The PNP has filed murder complaint against Escorial and his alleged accomplices.
When the PNP and the NBI filed the two murder complaints against Bantag and other respondents, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors decided to consolidate all the complaints for preliminary investigation.
