HIS BACK against the wall, Gerald Bantag’s reaction was to throw brickbats at Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
He called for Remulla’s resignation saying the latter lost credibility after his son was arrested on charges of marijuana importation.
“Pero kung hindi tumalima si Boying na mag-step down, ay hindi ako susuko kung may warrant ako. Bakit ako susuko, e di niluto na naman nila ako? Pero pag wala si Boying, yan pwede na ako sumuko,” Bantag said in a television interview.
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Bantag also pounced on Remulla’s alleged bias because he was publicly named as the mastermind behind the assassination of broadcaster Percy Lapid.
One might consider these as mindless perorations borne by desperation. But there is some method to the madness. It has afforded Bantag more time to prepare his formal answer to the allegations that might lead to criminal indictments.
The DOJ panel of investigators has suspended Bantag’s deadline for submission of a counter-affidavit pending resolution of his motion seeking the DOJ’s disqualification from resolving the case grounded on alleged bias and lack of jurisdiction.
It is safe to say that Bantag’s Christmas and New Year celebrations will not be disturbed.
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In the meantime, the new administration at the Bilibid prisons is looking into reports that high-profile inmates who were reported to have died because of disease were in fact sent to their final destination through the fast lane.
Jaybee Sebastian figures prominently in this conversation. He was one of the accusers of Sen. Leila de Lima.
Sebastian died on July 18, 2020. He was only 40 years old. The death certificate prepared by BuCor had shown that he succumbed to a heart attack at the Bilibid hospital. The death allegedly occurred two weeks after he was transferred from Site Harry – a COVID isolation facility in the prisons.
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BuCor OIC administrator Gregorio Catapang says that inmates and personnel at Site Harry have told him that Jaybee Sebastian did not die at the hospital but at the University of Perpetual Help extension school.
What was a high-profile inmate doing at an educational institution? What other entry was false in that death certificate?
Sebastian’s widow also requested an autopsy but was rebuffed with the immediate cremation of her husband’s body, ostensibly in compliance with the COVID protocols being implemented at the time.
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Rodrigo Duterte designated Bantag Director General of the Bureau of Corrections on September 17, 2019.
From May to June 2020 at least nine high-profile inmates died in quick succession – of COVID infection as reported by BuCor.
Catapang is currently investigating the claim of one inmate assigned as an orderly at Site Harry that one of those inmates was suffocated to death, contrary to what was reported in his death certificate.
The National Bureau of Investigation has already recommended the filing of murder charges against 22 members of the police who were assigned to man the high security prison facility on those material dates.
Again, what was the Philippine National Police doing inside Bilibid?
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Sen. Leila de Lima has decried the fact that Jaybee Sebastian and others are not alive to recant their testimonies against her.
Sebastian had completed his testimony. His eventual death would not have the effect of striking it off the records of the criminal cases against de Lima.
On the other hand, a recantation would dilute his original testimony and substantially weaken the prosecution’s evidence against the Senator.
He could also have pointed to those responsible for subornation of perjury.
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Bantag did not foresee the net effect of Percy Lapid’s killing. It is unearthing skeletons buried in the pantheon of impunity./PN
