MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Tuesday he will ask Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag for a report on the claim of the alleged gunman of radio commentator Percy Lapid that he was acting on orders from inside the New Bilibid Prison.
“I will tell him to give me a report on this, if he has any knowledge already. Because what the gunman said and what the DG knows, we do not know if they are the same. We cannot presume that,” Remulla told a news briefing.
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“We should find out whoever that may be. We will expose that,” he said in Filipino.
Joel Estorial, a 39-year-old man who authorities said surrendered to them on Monday for shooting Lapid, claimed that he was acting on the orders of a man only known as Orly or Orlando who was supposedly being given orders from inside Bilibid.
Along with Orly or Orlando, Estorial also identified two more suspects whom he said was part of a group of six who was behind Lapid’s killing, namely siblings Edmon Dimaculangan and Israel Dimaculangan.
Remulla acknowledged that there is a “big problem” in the national penitentiary, which he said should be reformed.
“We have a big problem in Bilibid, that’s why we have to reform our prison system and not only the transfer of maximum security, but the regionalization of prisons is now on the table,” he said. — Xave Gregorio