Bantag plan for Bilibid land deal probed

ALREADY a respondent in the killing of a popular broadcaster, suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag is facing another case, this time in connection with a joint venture agreement for the commercial development of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Monday his staff is looking into the deal Bantag made with ATOM, the land developer responsible for the unexplained diggings discovered inside the sprawling NBP compound.

Bantag and his deputy at BuCor, Ricardo Zulueta, are prime suspects in the slaying of Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and NBP inmate Jun Villamor, the alleged middleman in the Lapid case.

“I already asked my staff to study all possible cases,” Remulla said in a press briefing.

“The giant swimming pool was not in the budget of the BuCor. Who is funding it? We’ll have my staff study all possible violation of laws,” he said.

Remulla said that Bantag submitted the plan to develop the NBP to then-president Rodrigo Duterte under the Build-OperateTransfer (BOT) Law.

“Definitely, there is a process to be followed when you want joint venture on government property. Apparently, it was not followed. For ATOM to remain in the premises and participate in the digging is another matter,” he said.

Bantag claimed that the deal with ATOM was a “win-win” situation, since the firm will donate a 234-hectare property in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija, as the site for a new national penitentiary, in exchange for the development of the present NBP.

Bantag said the BuCor will also get 35 percent of the earnings in the development of the Bilibid property.

Remulla said documents show that the project was rejected by former Justice secretary and now Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who also recommended its disapproval to Duterte.

Because the project falls under the BOT Law, it requires presidential approval.

Remulla admitted that Bantag had told him about the project but never submitted supporting papers or documents.

“The DoJ is not project bound. We want proactive measures to improve the [prison] system. Lipat mo lang ‘yan (If you just transfer it), without improving anything, there would be the same problem,” he said.

On Monday, Bantag received a copy of the subpoena in the Mabasa and Villamor cases, two days before the preliminary investigation was to start.

Bantag’s lawyer Rocky Thomas Balisong went to the DoJ office to get a copy of the subpoena.

Balisong said his client is determined to face the allegations against him. He met with Bantag in Baguio City over the weekend to discuss their legal strategy.

The subpoena compels Bantag to appear at the DoJ building in Manila on November 23 and December 5.

He must submit his counter-affidavit to be sworn before the DoJ panel handling the case made up of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Charlie Guhit, Deputy State Prosecutor Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas and Senior Assistant Prosecutor Josie Christina Dugay.

The subpoena was first served at Bantag’s last known address in Caloocan City on November 15, but no one was around to receive it.

Remulla, meanwhile, refused to believe reports that Zulueta is dead.

“I had information a week ago on where he was at least,” he said.

Zulueta allegedly received orders from Bantag to seek the help of gang leaders imprisoned at the NBP in arranging the murder of Mabasa and Villamor.