SUSPENDED Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag through his counsel, Atty. Rocky Balisong, on Wednesday 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.

In a chance interview, Balisong said they filed a counter-affidavit ex abundanti ad cautelam formally refuting the charges against Bantag, but stressing that the former jail official is not abandoning the stance that the DOJ does not have jurisdiction to conduct preliminary investigation.

“Yes, we submitted our counter affidavit ex abundanti ad cautelam. So it’s an extreme precautionary measure. This simply means that while we are following the rules on 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. ”

“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,” Balisong said.

Balisong disclosed that they are now readying 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.

In his previous interview, Balisong pointed out that the Office of the Ombudsman, not the DOJ, has the exclusive jurisdiction over the hugely-controversial death case inasmuch as the suspended prison chief’s salary grade for his position was 30.

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.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun said Villamor died of suffocation after a plastic bag was placed over his head.

Lapid, Percival Mabasa in real life, hosted a radio commentary show called “Lapid Fire,” criticizing fake news, red-tagging, and government corruption.