Bantag denies role in Lapid-Villamor slay
SUSPENDED Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag yesterday filed his counter-affidavit before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the two murder complaints filed against him in connection with the murders of broadcaster Percy Lapid and middleman Jun Villamor.
Bantag’s counsel, Atty. Rocky Balisong said they refuted the charges filed against the official through a counter-affidavit ex abundanti ad cautelam. He stressed the former jail official is not abandoning the stance that the DOJ does not have jurisdiction to conduct preliminary investigation.
“It’s an extreme precautionary measure. This simply means that while we are following the rules in submission of counter-affidavit, it is ad cautelam because we are not abandoning our original stand of continuing to question the jurisdiction of the panel and the whole DOJ,” Balisong said. “In other words, this will not be treated as abandoning our motion for inhibition because we’ll still push with it before the proper authorities. So ayun ang position namin ngayon.”
He added that they’re also preparing a petition to be filed before the Court of Appeals (CA) questioning the denial by the DOJ of their motion for the inhibition of government prosecutors handling the preliminary investigation.
“The soonest possible time,” Balisong told reporters in a chance interview when asked when the defense will file the petition before the appellate court.
Bantag sought the inhibition of DOJ prosecutors handling the preliminary investigation of the two murder complaints, which was jointly filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Philippine National Police (PNP) against him.
Meanwhile, Bantag in his 42-page counter-affidavit sought the outright dismissal of the charges against him for lack of probable cause.
According to him, the testimony of self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial linking him and several others to the sensational case is inadmissible in evidence for being hearsay.
“The testimony of Escorial is hearsay. Although hearsay may be entertained during preliminary investigation, jurisprudence requires that there be substantial basis for crediting it, ” the counter-affidavit read in part.
Bantag hogged the headlines following the death of broadcaster Percy Lapid last October 3.
Escorial upon his surrender claimed that the order to assassinate Lapid came inside the walls of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Also, Villamor, who supposedly relayed the kill order to Escorial, mysteriously died inside the NBP.
