BY JOEL CALAMBA ESCOL, Managing Editor
MANILA, Philippines — The Muntinlupa City court has ordered the arrest of former Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) chief Gerald Bantag and his deputy, Ricardo Zulueta, in connection with the killing of inmate Jun Villamor, reports reaching MDN Digital said yesterday.
Inmate Jun Villamor was the alleged middleman who conspired with the mastermind in the planned murder of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid in October last year.
Villamor died inside the prison cell, the day that self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial was arrested and presented to the media.
During the press conference, Escorial admitted carrying out the assassination of the hard-hitting radio broadcaster on October 3.
Judge Gener Gito of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 penned down the arrest order on April 12 but it was only presented to the media yesterday, it was learned.
Bantag and Zulueta’s non-bailable murder charges at Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 were separate from a murder case filed in Las Piñas City on the killing of Percy Lapid (real name: Percival Mabasa).
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla advised the two respondents of the murder charges to “face the music.”
“If you think you are innocent just come in to face the music. The wheels of justice are turning.” Remulla told reporters
“The law has a protocol on how to handle persons who will be arrested or who have to be arrested. So, we will let the protocol of the law, the way that it runs, run its course. The judges will be able to know if the truth is there. They will know what’s true and what’s not,” the DOJ chief concluded.