MANILA, Philippines — Joel Escorial, the self-confessed shooter behind the killing of radioman Percy Mabasa, the broadcaster better known as Percy Lapid, may enter the government's witness protection program if he discloses the mastermind behind the murder, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said Thursday.
Mabasa was shot dead by two men on motorcycle at the gate of BF Resort Village in Talon Dos, Las Piñas on October 3.
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"That’s very possible. If that’s the only way that we can resolve the case, we will consider that. We can talk about it and it will undergo the scrutiny of the court," he was quoted as saying over Dobol B TV in mixed Filipino and English when asked if the WPP was on the table.
Escorial eventually turned himself into the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police and admitted to being the gunman. He also claimed that the order to kill the radio journalist came from inside the New Bilibid Prison.
The Philippine National Police as of this writing is still unsure about who ordered the killing, or how they were able to communicate with a hitman from inside the national penitentiary.
As it stands, Police Col. Restituto Arcangel, the head of the Special Investigation Task Group assigned to take on the case, confirmed earlier that Escorial's family is also under the PNP's protection.
Remulla asserted on Friday that Escorial, considered a principal suspect in the killing, surrendered out of fear and not because the government offered to make him a star witness.
"I am looking into that and, actually, there are two angles there. The NBI will conduct its own independent investigation. They have already started," he said in mixed Filipino and English.
"The other angle, as Interior Secretary Abalos told me the other day, is that the gunman talked to someone from the BJMP."