The Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to ask the court to issue a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Q. Bantag and Bucor’s Deputy Security Officer Ricardo S. Zulueta to stop them from leaving the country.
Bantag, Zulueta and several persons deprive of liberty (PDLs) in the custody of BuCor have been charged with murder in complaints filed with the DOJ for the killings of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and “middleman” Cristito Villamor Palana.
Both Bantag and Zulueta have been charged as “principals by inducement” in the two killings.
“We are already filing a hold departure order. I already instructed the staff to start,” DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla told journalists on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
With the PHDO, there will be no need for him to place Bantag and Zulueta under an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO), Remulla said.
A PHDO is issued by the courts at the request of prosecutors who are conducting preliminary investigation of criminal complaints like the ones filed against Bantag and Zulueta before the DOJ.
He explained that a PHDO is different from a hold departure order (HDO) which is issued once the criminal complaints are filed with the courts.
He further explained that the DOJ needs a PHDO since Zulueta has been absent without leave (AWOL) from BuCor.
“Tine-trace natin kasi nag-AWOL siya sa Bilibid (We are tracing his whereabouts because he has gone AWOL from the Bilibid). He was still reporting there but he stopped reporting,” he said.
While Bantag was reported not in hiding, Remulla advised him to participate in the preliminary investigation of the complaints against him.
“We are not here to oppress anybody. We’re here to find out the truth,” he stressed.
At the same time, he noted that it will not be easy for Bantag and Zulueta to leave the country since they are still government officials and, thus, “they cannot leave the country without travel authority.”
He said he has yet to talk to DOJ Prosecutor General Benedicto A. Malcontento as to the composition of the panel of prosecutors who will conduct the preliminary investigation of the murder complaints against Bantag and his co-respondents.
“Hopefully before I leave by Friday meron na kaming made-determine dito na course of action (we will be able to determine a course of action),” said Remulla who will leave for Geneva, Switzerland to attend a human rights conference.
However, he said, despite the filing of the murder complaints, the case is still not closed yet.
“Ongoing pa rin investigation. We're still getting some facts and a lot of people are coming forward with more information,” he stated.
He admitted that there remains a possibility that there might be others involved, including someone else behind Bantag.
He said he never thought that the trail could lead to Bantag.
“I was hoping that I could point to the drug lords and not Bantag. But ito yung lumalabas sa facts (But this is what the facts have shown) because the issue here is the killing of Percy Lapid,” he said.
In the meantime, Remulla said he is waiting for the complete report from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on the money trail in the payment of P550,000 to self-confessed gunman Joel S. Escorial in the killing of Mabasa.
“The narratives should match,” Remulla said about the testimonies of those involved in the crime about the money that was paid.
“Kaya nga malakas loob natin i-file yung kaso (That’s why we were confident in filing the cases) because we know the narratives match,” he added.
He also said the investigators are also looking into how 7,500 bottles of beer that were being sold allegedly at P1,000 each got into the New Bilibid Prison.
“We’re talking about organized contraband sale inside premises that are not supposed to be partaking of contraband,” he said.
The beer in cans were turned over by Bilibid inmates last week at the request of BuCor Officer-in-Charge Gregorio P. Catapang Jr.
TAGS: #DOJ #Remulla #Percy Lapid #Bantag #Bucor