Percy Lapid’s brother believes confessed gunman’s story, but not 100%

PHOTO: Percy Lapid Fire Facebook Page

MANILA, Philippines — The sibling of murdered radioman Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa has met the confessed gunman and heard the story about his brother’s slay, but he is not buying it all 100 percent.

Veteran journalist Roy Mabasa said he spent an hour with suspect Joel Escorial and that even if he believes his account, he could not trust it absolutely. Mabasa and Escoral apparently met and had a walkthrough at the crime scene on Tuesday night.

“Siguro iyong hinihingi niyang pagpapatawad, sabi ko, ay palitan mo nang pagtulong sa amin kasi ang gusto namin na makita rito ay iyong mastermind. Nagpahayag naman [si Escorial] ng kanyang interes na tumulong. In fact, marami na siyang ibinoluntaryong impormasyon sa amin,” Mabasa told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview on Wednesday morning.

(Maybe on the forgiveness he’s asking for, I told him to just trade it with helping us because what we want to see here is the mastermind. He nevertheless expressed his interest to help. In fact, he already voluntarily gave us many information.)

READ: Percy Lapid’s brother wants crime scene walkthrough with confessed hitman

Escorial had asked for forgiveness during a press briefing on Tuesday morning when he was presented to the media.

READ: Percy Lapid’s family can’t speak yet of forgiveness for gunman – brother

“While I want to say I believe him 100 percent, it’s heavy for me. Despite the one hour I spent with him, when I came home, I still had qualms tugging at my heart. But I guess this will only be answered by the court proceedings,” he further said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Mabasa, however, said he would set aside doubts and trust that the truth would soon prevail.

“Napakabigat para sa akin na bitbitin iyong agam-agam ng taong bayan eh, iyong meron silang doubts about [Escorial’s] personality but ako, I cast that aside kasi ang sa akin, makarating sana kami sa katotohanan,” he added.

(It’s too heavy a burden for me to carry the qualms of the public, the doubts they have about Escorial’s personality, but, for me, I cast that aside in hopes that we can soon unravel the truth.)

Mabasa noted that their family, in pursuit of justice for Lapid, is firmly holding on to Escorial’s account of the crime and the pieces of evidence obtained by authorities.

“Wala kaming tatakbuhang iba. Ang pwede naming panghawakan ay iyong batas na nakahandang tumulong sa amin kagaya nitong ginagawa ng Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation at Commission on Human Rights. Sa ngayon, bilang pamilya ng biktima, ito na lang panghahawakan namin,” he said.

(We have no one else to run to. We are holding on to the law that can readily help us just like what the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, and Commission on Human Rights have been doing. For now, as the family of the victim, this is what we hold on to.)

“I will not use the word 100 percent, but naniniwala ako sa sinasabi niya noong nagkita kami kagabi,” Mabasa also said.

(I will not use the word 100 percent, but I believe in what he told me when we met last night.)

“I don’t know who I can ask help from, where I can source my strength. We don’t have anyone to hold on to, so I carry all that burden on my own. I want to drown out all the noise and focus on the evidence I’m seeing,” he later added, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English.

Lapid was a known critic of the administrations of former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. He was killed last October 3 in an ambush outside the gate of the Las Piñas City neighborhood where he lived.

He was the radioman behind DWBL 1242’s biting political commentary program “Lapid Fire.”

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