3 YouTubers to face raps for interviewing Bantag

MANILA, Philippines — Three vloggers will face contempt charges for interviewing former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag, who is a fugitive from the law, and posting the video on their YouTube channel, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced yesterday.

Remulla said he will have the three YouTubers, whose identities were withheld, cited in contempt before the courts where Bantag is facing complaints for murder.

He said the vloggers could have arrested Bantag themselves or reported the fugitive to the police, but instead they gave the former BuCor chief a platform.

“We are preparing the charges against the three vloggers who interviewed Bantag. What they did is illegal. They disrespected the court and the process of the law,” Remulla said.

“Bantag is a fugitive. The court has issued a warrant for his arrest. Anyone who helped him is like defying the court order,” he added.

Bantag is wanted for the murders of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid and New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate Cristito Palana Villamor, who was the alleged middleman in the assassination of Lapid.

Bantag and former BuCor deputy security officer Ricardo Zulueta are facing complaints for murder before the Muntinlupa and Las Piñas regional trial courts.

Lapid was shot dead by armed men while on his way home in Las Piñas on Oct. 3, 2022.

Villamor was found dead in the NBP after he was identified by self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial as the one who hired him to kill Lapid.

Remulla said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other relevant agencies are “not stopping at anything” in bringing justice to Lapid’s family.

The DOJ has offered a P2-million reward for the capture of Bantag and another P1 million for Zulueta’s arrest.

The Bureau of Immigration has issued hold departure orders against Bantag and Zulueta to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros yesterday urged authorities to solve media killings in the country, coinciding with the first death anniversary of Lapid.

During the event dubbed “Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive: Case Study of Percy Lapid Mabasa” at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in Quezon City, Hontiveros said the filing of murder charges against Bantag and the other suspects “offers a unique opportunity to turn things around and set a model for obtaining justice in media killings.”

She lamented that media killings continue, with their perpetrators able to escape accountability for their crimes.

“After Ka Percy’s killing, the list of slain Filipino journalists has grown longer. In June, broadcaster Cresenciano Bunduquin was killed in Oriental Mindoro – the third media personality to be killed during the administration of this President,” Hontiveros said.

“Make no mistake: these attacks on journalists – whether physical or otherwise – represent a worsening challenge to Philippine democracy itself,” she added.

Hontiveros lamented that Bantag remains at large despite being interviewed by three vloggers.

“Imagine social media netizens having access to a primary suspect in a sensational murder, but not for law enforcers to bring him to justice. You can see the irony in that,” she said. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab