2 Bilibid inmates’ claim should be probed – DOJ

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said there was a need to look into the claim of two inmates from New Bilibid Prison (NBP) that they were stabbed by suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag in February.

“The allegations should be investigated properly so that there will be a buildup of evidence against the perpetrators,” Remulla said in a radio interview on Tuesday, adding, “That’s the job of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.”

“If there are laws violated, cases should be filed,” Remulla said.

Bantag, along with former BuCor deputy security officer, Ricardo Zulueta, are among those facing charges in connection with the deaths of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and NBP inmate Cristito Villamor Palaña, the alleged middleman in the killing of the broadcaster on Oct. 3.

‘Like a demon’

On Monday, BuCor officer in charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. said he would ask the Commission on Human Rights to assist NBP inmates Jonathan Cañete of the “Batang Cebu” gang and Ronald Usman of the “Batang Mindanao” gang in filing charges against Bantag.

The inmates, who faced the media with their lawyer, accused Bantag of stabbing them on Feb. 1 after he summoned them and other gang leaders about a jailbreak that happened a month before.

“He was pressing the blade (of a dagger) against my chest, so I grabbed it because I could no longer bear the pain. If I did not grab it, I might be dead. But because of what I did, Bantag became more angry and he stabbed my thigh. He was like a demon, because he was already drunk,” Cañete told reporters.

Usman, on the other hand, said Bantag suddenly grabbed his hand and stabbed it with a samurai blade.

“He told me that he would kill me, then he just stabbed me. The weapon pierced my right palm,” he said, adding that the injury left his hand paralyzed. Both inmates said they were brought to the NBP Hospital for treatment but no report was made about the incident.

They have rights

They added that the next day, they were approached by Zulueta who gave them each an envelope containing P50,000 in cash. “[Zulueta] told us that if we won’t accept the money, we will be having more problems,” Cañete said. “We thought of our family. We will soon be released, so we endured it. We had no choice but to accept the money. I was crying when I accepted the money, because that was the first time I experienced it,” he added.

Catapang said that both inmates only felt free to talk about their experience after he took over BuCor.

“Even if they are PDLs (persons deprived of liberty), they still have human rights. They should not be hurt [arbitrarily by BuCor personnel or officials],” he said.

Meanwhile, in connection with the Mabasa and Palaña killings, an immigration lookout bulletin order has been issued against Bantag and Zulueta for “monitoring purposes.”