News Roundup 10 November 2022
Nov 10, 2022 • 7 min Read
Marcos wants investigation into Percy Lapid slay to continue | PHILSTAR.COM – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants the investigation into the killing of radioman Percy Lapid to continue even with the gunman and mastermind both identified. In an interview with Palace reporters aboard a plane en route to Cambodia, the chief executive urged investigators to get to the bottom of how an order to kill a journalist could have come from inside the national penitentiary. “We’re trying to make sure that we know exactly what this is all about. The more we look, the worst it gets, this is too deadly right now,” he was quoted as saying partly Filipino in a report by state-run Philippine News Agency. “We’ll just keep going. Until we’re satisfied. Right now, because we haven’t spoken to all of the named suspects, middlemen, masterminds, the investigation hasn’t been closed.” The National Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the incident found that the kill order came from Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, who is currently under preventive suspension. “He established his own fiefdom there in the prison. He acted with no fear of being punished,” Marcos said of Bantag, who coursed the kill order through six people — including inmates and gang leaders in the New Bilibid Prison — before it finally got to confessed gunman Joel Escorial. Bantag’s right-hand man, Ricardo Zulueta, the deputy security officer at the Bureau of Corrections, is still at large and was last seen up to five days ago. Bantag and Zulueta faces two separate murder complaints before the Department of Justice, over the deaths of Lapid — whose real name is Percival Mabasa — and inmate Jun Villamor, the middleman in the case. Asked if he had any special directives for the NBI and the Philippine National Police, Marcos said: “They know their jobs. They don’t need me to tell [them and] teach their job… In terms of investigating, they know what to do. But we have to look at [why it happened] and see what happened here? What went on inside the prison that this happened?” “They’ll keep doing a good job until we come to the actual final, conclusion of this investigation,” he added.
US gathers experts to curb drug demand in Philippines | PHILSTAR.COM – The United States government, through the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, has gathered international experts to train local government representatives in developing strategies to mitigate the impact of and reduce demand for illegal drugs in the Philippines. Some 120 delegates representing 19 local government units attended the 5th National Conference of Anti-Drug Abuse Coalitions with the theme “Strengthening Prevention Strategies for Drug Free Communities” from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, organized by the US embassy in the Philippines, Association of Anti-Drug Abuse Coalitions of the Philippines Inc. (AADAC) and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America in Makati City. During the conference, international experts trained participants in conducting community assessments and developing sustainable and comprehensive strategies for anti-drug abuse coalition activities. Two certified youth trainers led sessions for 60 youth leaders on countering stigma associated with drug use, promoting mental health and strengthening youth engagement in anti-drug abuse coalitions. AADAC also awarded 10 local chief executives for their grassroots efforts in strengthening multi-sectoral cooperation to address illegal drugs and allocating financial support for AADAC programs in their communities. The 10 officials named “champions in anti-drug abuse coalition work” were Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, Angono Municipal Vice Mayor Gerardo Calderon, Calamba City Vice Mayor Angelito Lazaro Jr., Cavite City Mayor Denver Chua, Muntinlupa City Mayor Rozzano Rufino Biazon, Tanay Municipal Mayor Rafael Tanjuatco, Barangay Caticlan chairman Ralf Tolosa, Aklan Gov. Jose Enrique Miraflores, Barangay Poblacion Makati chairman Benhur Cruz and Makati City Mayor Abby Binay. “Coalitions carry out vital work, such as educating and engaging the youth, volunteering time to holistic care and ensuring the availability of mental health support, often with very little resources,” International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Manila director Kelia Cummins said. “This is why cooperation among coalitions is so essential – we are stronger together. We can pool not only financial resources, but also knowledge, time and collective experience to ensure that our communities are safe, healthy and productive,” Cummins said. AADAC is an umbrella association of 27 community anti-drug abuse coalitions located across the Philippines.
De Lima not convinced Bantag is slay brains ‘Tanda’ | INQUIRER.NET – Suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag is not old enough to be called “Tanda,” one of the alleged masterminds in the murder of hard-hitting radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, according to detained former Sen. Leila de Lima, who urged the authorities to search for the real culprit behind him. Several New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmates tagged the grey-haired Bantag, whom they called Tanda (Old Man), as the person who ordered them to raise P550,000 for the Oct. 3 ambush-killing of Mabasa. The slain radioman-vlogger’s tongue-lashing had whipped both the corrections official and former President Rodrigo Duterte, who appointed Bantag as BuCor director general in September 2019. De Lima said in a statement from her Camp Crame cell on Wednesday that the 54-year-old corrections official was “not yet that old” to be called Tanda. “They should pursue the identity of the person known only as ‘Tanda,’” she said. “‘Tanda’ cannot be ‘Bantag’ himself.” The former senator said the real Tanda could be former President Duterte whom she “always suspected” to have assigned Bantag to head the BuCor to “watch over” the NBP convicts who had testified against her.
‘Code One,’ ‘CM’
Known to his close friends, family and supporters as “Digong,” “Rody” and Du30, the 77-year-old Duterte was later called “PRRD” and “Code One” after he took office as president in 2016. He was “Charlie Mike” or “CM,” (for city mayor) to his aides when he was chief executive of his hometown Davao City. Critics gave him the monicker “The Punisher” for his brutal anticrime policy, but he has not been known publicly as “Tanda.” De Lima said the Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police should not contain their investigation just around Bantag. Besides, she said, there was “still the question of whether Bantag was determined enough to issue the command himself without being ordered by someone more powerful and more brazen than him.” Southern Police District director Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft said Duterte was not among the 160 persons of interest that the PNP had checked on in relation to Mabasa’s killing. These persons of interest were mostly former and current government officials, including Bantag, whom Mabasa criticized in his program “Lapid Fire.” Bantag and his deputy security chief Ricardo Zulueta were charged on Monday as the masterminds in the murder of Mabasa and NBP inmate Cristito “Jun Villamor” Palaña, an alleged middleman in the assassination plot. But the police is “still open” to including “other personalities” as the case progresses, according to PNP spokesperson Police Col. Jean Fajardo. “If, during the conduct of the preliminary investigation and in the actual trial when this case is filed in court, additional evidence point to other persons behind these two cases, we can always file a supplemental complaint,” Fajardo said in an interview on GMA 7’s “Unang Balita” on Wednesday.
