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BuCor chief Bantag acquitted over deadly jail explosion
A Parañaque court has acquitted Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag over a deadly explosion in the city jail in 2016, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete confirmed Bantag has been acquitted of 10 counts of homicide by the Parañaque Regional Trial Court. He said they are awaiting a copy of the court's ruling.
Ten inmates died of gunshot wounds and blast injuries at the city jail on August 11, 2016. The victims, two of them Chinese, were reportedly scheduled to meet with Bantag, then the warden, to discuss the transfer of some inmates from their cells.
The families of the victims said they suspected foul play.
Bantag, who was injured in the blast, was relieved from the jail warden's post.
In a 16-page ruling, Branch 274 of the trial court found Bantag acted out of self-defense when he fired upon the inmates—citing his testimony, the court said the former warden had believed the inmates were firing in his direction and one was about to throw a grenade at him.
The court said Bantag did not provoke the inmates to shoot at him.
"If accused Bantag had the intention to provoke the victims, he would not have allowed himself to be left alone in his office with the 10 inmates," the court said.
There was also no direct evidence that Bantag fired his service firearm with the intention to shoot a specific victim, the court added.
The court also acquitted two jail guards, Ricardo Zulueta and Victor Erick Pascua, due to the prosecution's failure to prove they were inside Bantag's office at the time of the incident or participated in killing the victims.
"It is also worthy to note that the prosecution failed to present evidence of conspiracy among the accused," the ruling states. "No evidence was adduced that all the accused had the common objective to kill the victims."
GMA News Online has sought comment from the BuCor chief regarding the acquittal.
