Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. on Wednesday said he will file a plunder complaint against suspended BuCor chief Gerald Bantag, saying only 60 percent of the prison cells being built by the agency were finished.
“Yes, I will file plunder (charges),” Catapang told Super Radyo dzBB. “Imagine, the budget of the government for the establishment of prison cells is around P1 billion. This is how BuCor should have been decongested.”
“Around 95% (of the funds) have been claimed already, but only 60% is finished. There’s no roof. How will the PDLs live there? Our reform agenda was also delayed,” he added.
Lawyer Rocky Balisong, Bantag’s legal counsel, said they will answer the charges in the proper forum.
“They can always file. We will wait for it, and we will answer it in the proper forum,” he told GMA News Online.
Bantag was suspended following the death of Jun Villamor, the inmate who allegedly acted as the middleman in the plot to kill broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa.
Since then, Bantag was linked to several controversies, including being identified as one of the masterminds behind the killing of both Lapid and Villamor. He has since denied the allegation.
He was also said to be digging for the legendary Yamashita treasure at an excavation site at the New Bilibid Prison, something he said was for a diving pool.
Bantag is also facing new charges over allegations of torture and physical injuries.
Catapang said the complaints will be filed this week following allegations made by gang leaders inside the NBP in Muntinlupa City that they were tortured by Bantag early this year.
Catapang said BuCor will help Batang Cebu gang leader Jonathan Canete and Ronald Usman of Batang Mindanao in filing the cases before the Muntinlupa Prosecutor’s Office either today or Friday.
Canete and Usman claimed that Bantag stabbed their hands and legs while the official was drunk during a confrontation inside his office last February.
According to Catapang, they took the affidavits of Usman and Cañeta on Tuesday.
He said the complaint may be for physical harm or physical injury.
Meanwhile, Catapang said they received information that former BuCor deputy security officer Ricardo Zulueta alleged ordered an inmate that he argued with to be stabbed.
Authorities have pointed to Zulueta as the other alleged mastermind in the Percy Lapid case.
“Yes, we are investigating the PDL who stabbed him and we got news that this was ordered by Zulueta because they were in disagreement,” he said.
Catapang said the inmate was initially at the NBP but was transferred to Leyte following the disagreement. He said the PDL was stabbed in the chest there.
“Once he was in Leyte, he was attacked by another PDL there. When I visited Leyte, he was still in the hospital. I told them to bring him here so we can secure him,” he added.
Lawyer Lauro Gacayan, the legal counsel of Zulueta, said they cannot comment on the allegation until they receive the affidavit.
Lapid was shot dead in Las Piñas City on October 3 while Villamor died at the New Bilibid Prison.
An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun showed Villamor’s remains to have a “history of asphyxia by plastic bag suffocation.”
Meanwhile, the lawyer of Lapid said that while the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order issued against Bantag and Zulueta by the Department of Justice is not a guarantee they cannot leave the country, it is still “an added layer of monitoring.”
Lawyer Danilo Pelagio said this when asked if they felt secure that Bantag and Zulueta will not leave the country.
“Well, it’s not a guarantee that they cannot leave the country. But that would also be an added layer of monitoring the whereabouts of Bantag and Zulueta,” Pelagio told ANC.
The DOJ said the ILBO was for “monitoring purposes only.”
Sought for comment on the lookout order, Gacayan said this is because the Justice Secretary has no power to stop any citizen from traveling abroad.
“Under Art. III, Section 6 of our Constitution, `the right to travel may not be impaired except: Upon Lawful Order of a court— which means there must be a pending criminal case against a person before the Regional Trial Court or Sandiganbayan,” he told GMA News Online.
“If my client wants to travel abroad, there is no constitutional prohibition against it. There is no pending criminal case against him yet, which is pending in court,” he added.
In an ambush interview, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the issuance of a lookout bulletin order is normal in the filing of complaints.
“We really do that for all cases, not just for them,” he said.
“Since it’s the yearend, we have to get our act together, so we decided to meet today,” Remulla said when asked if he knew about the alleged unfinished buildings.