Percival Mabasa, 63, who went by the name Percy Lapid on his show, was gunned down in a Manila suburb on October 3 as he drove to his studio. Police claimed Monday that Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag, who is currently suspended from his duties, was behind the killing along with his deputy security officer Ricardo Zulueta. Officials previously said the alleged gunman, Joel Escorial, surrendered to authorities last month out of fear for his safety after police released images of his face captured on security footage. “[Bantag] he will likely be the highest official in this country ever to be charged with such a serious case,” said Justice Minister Crispin Remula. Rodrigo Duterte, who was president of the Philippines from 2016 to June this year, appointed Bantag as director general of the corrections office in September 2019. Bantag allegedly ordered Mabasa’s killing after the latter’s “continued exposure of the issues against the former in his broadcast,” said Eugene Javier of the national bureau of investigation. Weeks before Mabasa was shot, the journalist had aired allegations of corruption against Bantag on his late-night radio show. Gerald Reader. Photo: Francis R Breeder/EPA Bantag told broadcaster DZRH last month that he had nothing to do with the murder. Bantag and Zulueta have also been accused of ordering the killing of Cristito Villamor Palaña, a prison inmate who allegedly passed on the killing order to the gunman. Palaña was suffocated with a plastic bag by members of his gang, Javier said. Criminal charges have been filed against 10 prisoners for the murder. Justice department prosecutors will decide if there is enough evidence to bring charges in court. Jonathan de Santos, the president of the National Association of Journalists of the Philippines, welcomed the “good development” in the case, but warned that there was a long way to go. “As we have seen, it takes a decade or more to secure a conviction,” he told AFP. Mabasa has been an outspoken critic of Duterte, who has waged a deadly drug war that has killed thousands of people, as well as the policies and aides of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. He is the second journalist to be killed since Marcos took office on June 30. Bringing to justice all those involved in the killing was a “test” of Marcos’ commitment to human rights, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of the NGO Human Rights Watch. “But putting Mabasa’s killers behind bars should also be the beginning of a comprehensive effort, not an isolated case because the victim happened to be a prominent journalist based in Manila,” he said. Mabasa’s brother Roy said he believed there were “more masterminds” behind the killing. While the Philippines ranks as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, such killings rarely occur in Manila, with radio stations outside the capital often targeted. Javier said the investigation into the killings had revealed “the institutionalization of a criminal organization within the government.” “This will be the cause of many reforms in government and the strengthening of existing mechanisms to ensure that nothing like this happens again,” he said, describing it as a “war on impunity”.
