The weakest link

How high does it go?

Not as high as Rodrigo Duterte, according to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, who shot down yesterday speculation that the “very high” person he mentioned as the mastermind in the contract killing of Percival Mabasa, a.k.a. radio broadcaster Percy Lapid, is the former president.

The Mabasas had the impression that there is another mastermind higher than suspended Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag. But right now the only other government official facing charges is BuCor security and operations chief Ricardo Zulueta, Bantag’s trusted right-hand man since their days with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Lapid’s relatives have shown appreciation for the work of the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and their respective law enforcement arms, the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police.

Still, the family has expressed hope in interviews that probers will still pursue the possibility that Bantag was told by someone higher up to permanently silence Lapid. The victim, his relatives pointed out, had also dished out biting criticism of other officials.

Bantag has denied involvement in the murders. Zulueta is AWOL and has gone into hiding. Bantag has also reportedly made himself scarce. Since flight is typically seen in this country as a sign of guilt, they should come out, come out, wherever they are.

For his own safety lest he suffer the fate of New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate Cristito “Jun” Villamor Palaña, Zulueta should follow the lead of gunman Joel Escorial and turn himself in.

From the extensive briefing, with chilling details, conducted by Remulla together with Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and NBI Director Medardo de Lemos, some people smelled a wider conspiracy, considering the elaborate planning and resource mobilization required for the murder and the subsequent cover-up attempt.

Remulla doused the speculations.

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Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong also thinks there is no one else higher than Bantag, at least based on the announced results of the probe.

When he was still a police general, Magalong was asked by then president Duterte to head the BuCor. Magalong declined, telling Duterte that he preferred to complete his police service until his mandatory retirement at age 56.

Another person offered the job was asked if he was prepared to neutralize troublemakers in the prison system. He backed out.

I don’t know if Magalong was asked the same question, or whether those were the marching orders given to Bantag and his predecessors in the previous administration.

Bantag, an Ibaloi whose family and friends are Baguio residents, is from the same region as Magalong. The mayor told “The Chiefs” on One News last Monday that he is no friend of Bantag, although they have chatted in the past, during which the Ibaloi was always soft-spoken and polite. Magalong said he was at a rally staged in support of Bantag last Sunday in Baguio not out of shared sentiment, but mainly to maintain calm among his constituents as passions were running high.

Magalong found the probe on the murders extensive. While he would not say if Bantag is guilty, the mayor said that based on the results, there was probable cause for the filing of the murder charges.

Perhaps because of the offer to head BuCor, Magalong has given some thought to the problems besetting corrections. The problems, he told us, are so extensive you wouldn’t know where to start.

What about the proposal to break up the mega Bilibid prison and set up more manageable regional prisons?

Even if this is done, Magalong said, the corrections system is only as good as its weakest link. And he sees the prison custodians themselves as the weakest link in the country’s correctional facilities.

Undermanned and poorly paid, prison guards are highly susceptible to corruption, Magalong told us.

“Money talks,” he said. The problem is aggravated by compromised leadership.

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Remulla, during the briefing, noted that the prisoners’ fear of Bantag “is just tremendous and unbelievable.” And this wasn’t just in the NBP. The prisoner who contacted Escorial was brought to Manila by NBI agents from the Iwahig penal colony in Palawan.

Even if smaller regional prisons are set up, corrupted guards and officials can still turn the correctional facilities into command centers for organized crime, including drug trafficking and murder-for-hire.

Escorial has told probers that it wasn’t his first contract killing. With probers now simply tying up loose ends in the murders of Lapid and Villamor, they can move to verify Escorial’s claim. It could lead to the solution of one or more of the numerous unsolved killings nationwide, a number of them targeting other media workers.

On top of Escorial’s claim, however, the NBI is now looking at the numerous deaths in the NBP under Bantag’s watch. The sole BuCor-accredited funeral parlor in Muntinlupa is currently holding 176 unclaimed cadavers turned over since last December by the NBP.

From 50 to 60 cadavers were brought to the Eastern Funeral Services by the NBP every month, according to the manager. These are not COVID cases, the manager said; the protocol for COVID-related death is immediate cremation.

The unfolding story is worthy of a horror movie, except the reality is more terrifying.