A SELF-confessed gunman in the killing of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, has asked a Las Piñas court to be allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of homicide instead of murder.
“In the interest of justice and for the mutual benefit of the State and the accused, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court to allow accused Joel Escorial y Salve to enter into plea bargaining to lesser offense of homicide,” read his motion to plea-bargain, filed through his lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office.
Escorial faces a murder charge before the Las Piñas Regional Trial Court Branch 254 over Lapid’s murder, along with former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag and several others.
Three of his co-accused, all gang leaders from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) where the killing was allegedly planned, had pleaded guilty as accessories to the murder. They were sentenced to up to eight years in prison.
Meanwhile, Bantag and his deputy, Ricardo Zulueta, remained at large.
They have filed a petition before the Court of Appeals challenging the DOJ prosecutor’s resolution indicting them for murder.
Lapid was shot dead outside his subdivision in Las Piñas on the night of October 3, 2022.
Escorial surrendered to the police a few days later, after his face, captured through a surveillance footage, was shown on nationwide television.
He said he was with three other accomplices when he shot Lapid. The order to kill him allegedly came from inside the NBP.
Escorial divulged that he and his companions were given P550,000 for the hit, with P140,000 going to his bank account.
He was presented to the media on October 18, where he identified a Bilibid inmate, Jun Villamor, as an alleged middleman.
Villamor was reported killed a few hours later, allegedly by suffocation with a plastic bag, carried out by gang members.
Bantag and the other suspects also been charged for Villamor’s death.
Escorial’s motion to plea-bargain will still have to be approved by the court and the prosecution.
If approved, Escorial could see his jail term reduced by half — just 20 years maximum for homicide instead of up to 40 years for murder.
Reacting to the latest development, Lapid’s brother, Roy Mabasa, said they were studying the motion.
“Our lawyers are looking at it very closely. Although there is a question of whether he will qualify or not, we will see how it will go. For us, justice is when the mastermind/s are put behind bars,” Mabasa said.
Mabasa, who attended a hearing at Las Piñas RTC Monday morning, said Escorial also asked the court that he be imprisoned at a BuCor facility in Samar citing security concerns at the NBP.