BJMP exec charged for firing gun, unpaid bill

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) was charged yesterday for allegedly not paying his bill and firing his gun at a restaurant in Malabon City before dawn Sunday.

Jail Superintendent Gerald Bantag was charged with illegal discharge of firearm and estafa before the Malabon prosecutor’s office, according to city police investigation division head Chief Inspector Reynaldo Medina.

In his report to city police chief Senior Superintendent Severino Abad, Medina said Bantag and his three companions did not pay their bill amounting to P2,063 after drinking at the Juno Food House in Barangay Tugatog at past midnight Sunday.

Restaurant employee Ronald Sioson said Bantag got mad and fired his 9mm pistol at the restaurant’s wall before leaving in a maroon Mitsubishi sedan. He did not say what made Bantag angry.

Medina said Bantag was a former jail warden of the Malabon City Jail.

“We do not know his whereabouts but we are going to send the subpoena to his office so he would be given a chance to air his side,” he said.