The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday, Nov. 11, assured that that no one targeted suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Q. Bantag for the deaths of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and BuCor’s inmate Cristito Villamor Palana, who was tagged as “middleman” in the Oct. 3 killing of the broadcaster.

“Nobody wanted the evidence to point to Director-General Bantag,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“There is no other motive here than to bring out the truth and reality” which the DOJ pointed out will be done “through our legal processes and with due process afforded to everyone involved,” it said.

“We will not stop until justice is served to the families of the victims in this case,” said the DOJ as it stressed that what the government embarked on is “a war against impunity and the continuous and gross disregard of the rule of law.”

The DOJ did not state if its statement was a reaction to Bantag’s alleged challenge for Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla to step down as head of the department.

It said that prior to what happened to Mabasa and Palana (earlier named Jun Globa Villamor), the DOJ said that Secretary Remulla and Director General Bantag had a relationship that was “strong and healthy” and together discussed reforms, operations and set free persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

It said that though Bantag claimed that he offered his courtesy resignation upon the entry of a new administration, “it was Secretary Remulla who showed his outright support and insisted that the Director-General remain in his post under the new leadership.”

“In the words of Secretary Remulla, we hoped we could point at the drug syndicates as perpetrators. It was not good news when the evidence started to point to the respondents. But given the totality of circumstances, the PNP (Philippine National Police) and NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) had to stick to the evidence at hand,” it said.

The DOJ also said in its statement:

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) understands the predicament of DG Bantag. His words and actions, no matter how personal and inappropriate, come from a misguided sense of betrayal.

“There is only one issue at hand, the related murders of Percy Lapid and Jun Villamor. Let us not muddle the issue, let us not clutch at straws.

“The method used in the investigation conducted jointly between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was the method of deduction. Meaning to say, at the start, there was a long list of persons considered persons-of-interest.

“There were many politicians, government officials and big names on that list. These were the persons targeted and mentioned in the show of Lapid who may have had a motive to kill him.

“However, from all the evidence collected so far - the sworn statements of the PDLs, ballistics analysis, CCTV footage, the money trail, and all those other physical evidence gathered to boost the credibility of the statements – they all pointed to the respondents (Bantag and others) as perpetrators of the murder.

“Simply said, anybody in the position of the NBI and the PNP would file this case given the totality of circumstances they gathered from the investigation. They have been on this case from the very start. They had the privilege of observing body language, asking probing questions, receiving intelligence reports and finally piecing everything together.

“In the words of Secretary Remulla, we hoped we could point at the drug syndicates as perpetrators. It was not good news when the evidence started to point to the respondents. But given the totality of circumstances, the PNP and NBI had to stick to the evidence at hand.

“There is a proper forum and a proper time to thresh this all out. Now that a complaint has been filed for murder against the two (2) respondents, the following is the process at the preliminary investigation stage:

“A subpoena will be sent to the respondents for them to answer through their counter-affidavit. This is a sworn statement answering all the allegations in the complaint. He will be given that chance. Then, a preliminary investigation will be set. This comes in the form of a summary or informal hearing where both parties are heard. The purpose of the preliminary investigation is to determine whether there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed and the respondent is probably guilty thereof and should be held for trial.

“In other words, the purpose here is to determine probable cause – that is a lower quantum or standard of evidence to see if the case can be filed in court.

“If filed in court, that is when a full-blown trial is done. There, in order to convict the accused, the standard or quantum of evidence needed is proof beyond reasonable doubt. Meaning to say, a moral certainty is required or that degree of proof which produces conviction in an unprejudiced mind.

“It will be through these processes that we will determine the guilt or innocence of the respondents in this case.

“To end, there is no other motive here than to bring out the truth and reality. Of course, this will be done through our legal processes and with due process afforded to everyone involved.

“To repeat the statement made in the joint press conference, this concerted and coordinated effort of both the DOJ and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has turned out to be a war against impunity and the continuous and gross disregard of the rule of law.

“We will not stop until justice is served to the families of the victims in this case.”

TAGS: #DOJ #Remulla # Percy Lapid #Bantag #Bucor