Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla knows where Gerald Bantag can be found, after the Philippine National Police deployed tracker teams to arrest the former Bureau of Corrections director charged with plotting the death of broadcaster Percy Lapid and killing an inmate involved in the assassination.
Remulla revealed this during an interview on One News after a Las Pinas court issued arrest warrants against Bantag and former BuCor Deputy Security Officer Ricardo Zulueta, both of whom are facing non-bailable murder charges over the death of New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate Jun Villamor.
“We have a general idea of where he is,” Remulla said. “We’ve been following his movements for the past few weeks but I haven’t spoken to those doing that.”
“Of course it’s our job to know where the person may be before, because that’s part of the job of the Department of Justice,” he added.
Aside from Bantag, Remulla said Zulueta is also “being followed by our people.”
“We’ve been trying to keep track of his movements so we have a general idea of his location,” he said.
Bantag last year declared he would not surrender in the event a warrant for his arrest be issued should Remulla remain Justice secretary.
Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa – himself a former BuCor chief – urged Bantag to surrender and face the charges against him.
“For peace of mind, he should surrender, he must submit himself to justice and he must face charges against him. And if he is really innocent, he will be set free ultimately. We should still trust our justice system here,” added dela Rosa, a former national police chief under the Duterte administration.
A Muntinlupa court earlier ordered Bantag’s arrest in connection with the death of Jun Villamor, the alleged middleman in the killing of broadcaster Percy Lapid.
Lapid was shot dead in Las Piñas City on October 3, 2022, while Villamor, an inmate, died at the New Bilibid Prison on October 18, 2022.
An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun concluded that Villamor’s remains showed a “history of asphyxia by plastic bag suffocation.”