Ex-BuCor chief Bantag suspended anew over Palparan media interview
JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has imposed another 90-day preventive suspension on the already suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag for allegedly authorizing the media interview by SMNI Network of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. last year.
Palparan is serving time after being convicted for the kidnapping of two University of the Philippines (UP) students in 2006.
Bantag’s newest suspension was contained in Department Order No. 010 dated January 17, 2023 and signed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
The order said that Bantag’s suspension is “to prevent him of exerting undue influence or pressure on the witnesses…” while the administrative investigation into the incident involving the Palparan interview is ongoing.
Bantag was suspended over the mystery-shrouded death of middleman Jun Villamor in the Percy Lapid slay case.
Villamor supposedly relayed the kill order to self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial.
According to then Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, prison rules like media access to inmates may have been violated when Palparan was interviewed by then Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy for SMNI Network.
” Relevant rules under the manual of operations of the BUCOR were not properly observed.”
“Rules on media access of PDLs (persons deprived of liberty), especially high-profile PDLs, which require the authorization of the justice secretary and also observance of reasonable conditions, such as no discussion of any pending cases before the media,” Guevarra said last year.
The interview of Palparan, who was convicted for the kidnapping of two University of the Philippines (UP) students in 2006, hogged headlines last year.
He was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of college students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. The coeds were never been seen again.
The former military officer was transferred from military custody to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City two weeks after his conviction in 2018.
