When the alleged gunman of his brother Percy Lapid revealed the name of the middleman who contracted them to do the hit job during their meeting on Tuesday night, journalist Roy Mabasa immediately asked the police to secure him inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).

The security of the middleman, according to Mabasa, was important as he holds the key to the identity of the mastermind who wanted the veteran and outspoken broadcast journalist dead.

Mabasa had no idea that the middleman was already dead hours earlier.

In a statement released by the Southern Police District, Mabasa was allowed to join the crime scene walkthrough at 9 p.m. on Oct. 18 and it was around that time when he had the opportunity to talk with the self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced on Thursday, Oct. 20, that the middleman died at the NBP at around 3 p.m. on Oct. 18, or a few hours after the meeting of Mabasa with his brother’s killer.

“We are really saddened with what happened. We cannot understand how this happened in a supposedly civilized country,” said Mabasa in an interview over dzMM.

“This (identification of the middleman) was supposed to be a major breakthrough on the case. This is supposed to be vital in the case that was filed,” he added.

Mabasa said he only learned of the death of the middleman on Thursday, Oct. 20, when the head of the SPD, Police Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft called him up, apparently after Remulla broke the news in the media.

Probe protocol

According to the police, Escorial surrendered on Monday, Oct. 17, with the help of a friend after sensing that he would be killed when his photo extracted from a CCTV footage was made public and when he was told by the middleman that he should be placed in a safe house.

When Escorial was presented to the media by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos in the morning of Oct. 18, Abalos and other ranking police officials present appeared to have been already aware of the identity of the middleman.

Escorial himself said during the press conference that the middleman was someone from the Bilibid.

According to Mabasa, the investigation protocol dictates that the police would immediately secure any suspect in a crime, especially that they have the power to do so since the middleman was already in a government detention facility.

He said the security of the middleman is very important since he holds the information that could lead to the identification of the mastermind.

Coordination blunder?

Mabasa said he would wait for the statements of the PNP and the Bureau of Corrections in connection with the death of the alleged middleman.

He said he appreciates the hard work of the police investigators, noting that some of them had sleepless nights just to ferret out the truth on the motive of the killing of his brother.

“Let us allow the PNP and the BuCor to issue their statements in the coming days because clearly, there was something wrong with the coordination,” said Mabasa.