PNP gets leads on Bantag’s whereabouts

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has pinpointed where former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag is hiding.

PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said tracker teams already have information on Bantag’s whereabouts and are just waiting for an opportunity to arrest him.

Bantag has been on the run after he was tagged as the mastermind in the murder of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid, Percival Mabasa in real life, in Las Piñas City on Oct. 3, 2022.

Lapid was a harsh critic of Bantag. The broadcaster was shot dead near his home.

Bantag also has another warrant of arrest for allegedly ordering the murder of Cristito Villamor Palaña, the alleged middleman in Lapid’s killing.

Palaña was murdered shortly after self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial revealed that the order to kill the broadcaster came from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Apart from Bantag, the PNP is also looking for former lieutenant colonel Rafael Dumlao III, the convicted brains in the ransom kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Oct. 18, 2016.

Dumlao’s wife is also reportedly working in law enforcement and is suspected to be helping him.

“At the end of the day, we will arrest them and send them to where they should be sent,” Torre said over radio dzMM.