The price of silence

Can you believe that crap that one of two persons who acted as links between the mastermind and Joel Escorial, the confessed killer of radio commentator Percy Lapid, died of natural causes at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP)?

If you do, then you may be as gullible as the many people who take the word of prisons officials that Crisanto Palara Villamor Jr. died of bangungot (pancreatic failure) before he could be investigated.

Is it a coincidence that inmate Villamor had to die after being linked by gunman Escorial to the murder of the broadcast journalist?

One of those who expressed incredulity is Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

Said the justice department chief in a talk with reporters: “He died at the NBP, at the prison hospital, or he may have been brought there, that’s why he was pronounced dead. I don’t know. He (was) 42 years old, and he (was) young. Actually, I don’t know. I’m at a loss here. That is just the last report to me. I want to be very candid about this. I tell you as I know it.”

As a veteran police reporter, my take on the situation is this: If Villamor’s body doesn’t have marks of foul play, then he could have been poisoned.

The reason would be that he was silenced – what else could it have been?

Some big-time politicians or drug lords wanted Lapid, whose real name is Percival Mabasa, dead so he could no longer make nasty broadsides about them.

Lapid, a well-known commentator, had many sources in government and the underworld.

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The question that bothers many is how on earth could a middleman contact guns-for-hire when he’s in prison.

It speaks volumes about the laxity of the authorities at the NBP. Prison guards look the other way when cellular phones are sneaked into the NBP; for a big fee, of course.

Rich inmates use the phones to communicate with relatives or gang mates in the outside world.

Aside from phones and guns, other deadly weapons are smuggled into the NBP, to be used by members of the different gangs inside.

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director general Gerald Bantag, for all his bravado (he shows off two samurai swords and an Uzi machine pistol to guards and inmates), has not been able to stop the pernicious practice of smuggling phones and guns into the NBP.

As this column was being written (Friday, Oct. 21), Bantag has been ordered suspended by Justice Secretary Remulla. BuCor is one of the bureaus under the Department of Justice.

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If I were one of the investigators, I would forcibly extract (a euphemism for torture) from Escorial the identities of members of gun-for-hire syndicates.

The guy should be shown no mercy, because hired guns don’t have mercy for their victims.

Needless to say, there are many gun-for-hire syndicates in the country. They mostly ride on motorcycles in pairs when executing their victims.

If authorities want to get rid of or minimize drive-by executions, they can start by forcing (c’mon, let’s get real) a confession from Escorial.

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I nearly fell off my chair when I read that Lapid’s brother, Roy Mabasa, had asked the US embassy to intervene in his brother’s assassination.

Mabasa admitted to seeking the help of the US embassy to ask our government to help ensure his family’s safety.

He might as well have asked the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for protection.

Oh, boy! The last time I checked, we were already a sovereign nation.

I thought Mabasa, supposedly a journalist of good standing, knew that.

Mabasa also hinted that his family was thinking of forgiving Escorial, who killed his brother in cold blood.

“Me, personally, I am not yet ready to forgive. We want to see the complete resolution first. But if he cooperates fully, and we determine the people behind the case... why not,” Mabasa said.

Lapid’s brother also said their family is open to allowing the triggerman to turn state witness, if he would help pin down the mastermind.

My lawyer friends say that the person who is least guilty – stress on “least guilty” – in a criminal conspiracy can be turned into a state witness or one who would testify against his accomplices.

But how can Escorial, who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Lapid, be considered the least guilty?

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Former actor-turned-senator Jinggoy Estrada proposed to ban all Korean telenovelas because they compete with locally produced movies and TV soap operas.

Estrada’s proposal, if approved, would go against the constitutional freedom of expression or the implied right of the people to information on matters of public concern.

The best way to compete with Korean-made movies and telenovelas is for local film producers not to spawn stupidity among Filipinos.

What can match that idiotic scene in a Filipino “cowboy” movie, where the main character shot at the sharp edge of his knife with his pistol? The bullet was divided into two, with the pieces hitting and killing two of his opponents.

Ssssst! Filipino moviegoers loved that scene.

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Sen. Imee Marcos is misinformed about Leah Cruz, whom she mentioned in an interview as a smuggler of agricultural products.

I personally know Cruz, who once made my vacation place in Puerto Princesa a pilot farm for vegetables.

Cruz has incurred the ire of many vegetable and fruit merchants by teaching farmers modern techniques in agronomy and buying their vegetables and fruits at reasonable prices.

Leah has destroyed the middlemen who buy very low from farmers and sell very high to consumers.

Former agriculture secretary William Dar and agriculture specialist Jerry Pelayo can vouch for Leah.