On the evening of October 3, 2022, veteran radio broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa was ambushed and killed by a motorcycle-riding gunman at the gate of his Las Piñas subdivision. The assassination of one of the country’s most fearless media critics sent shockwaves across the nation, but what began as a tragic attack on press freedom would soon unravel into one of the most audacious and complex conspiracy cases in recent memory, with a trail of bodies leading from the streets of Manila to the deepest corridors of the national penitentiary, and all the way to its highest office.

Percy Lapid was a giant in Philippine broadcasting, known for his “Lapid Fire” program where he relentlessly exposed corruption and abuses of power. He was a fierce critic of both the Duterte and Marcos Jr. administrations. This courage, however, came at a price. He had faced dozens of libel cases and numerous death threats over his 40-year career. On that October night, one of those threats was finally carried out.

The case broke wide open just two weeks later when the confessed gunman, Joel Escorial, surrendered to police, fearing for his own life. In a stunning press conference, Escorial admitted he was paid ₱550,000 to kill Lapid. The bombshell, however, was where the order came from: a middleman who was an inmate inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Crisanto “Jun” Villamor.

The conspiracy took a darker, more sinister turn just four hours after Escorial’s public confession. Authorities at the NBP announced that Jun Villamor had been found dead in his cell, the official cause being “natural causes.” The timing was too convenient to be a coincidence. The public suspected a cover-up, a suspicion that was validated when renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun conducted a second, independent autopsy. Her findings were explosive: Villamor had not died of natural causes; he had been murdered by suffocation with a plastic bag.

The final key to unlocking the conspiracy came from Villamor himself, in a “dying declaration” sent via text to his sister just before he was killed. Fearing his life was in danger, he named the powerful Bilibid gang commanders who received the kill order and revealed that the ultimate command came from someone “inside the office” of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

On November 7, 2022, the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation held a joint press conference and named the alleged mastermind of both murders: suspended BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag. Investigators presented a detailed diagram of the chain of command, alleging that Bantag, enraged by Lapid’s on-air exposés about his unexplained wealth—dubbing him the “Cinderella Man”—gave the kill order to his deputy, Ricardo Zulueta. The order was then passed down through prison gang leaders until it reached Villamor, who hired Escorial’s team.

The aftermath has been a slow and frustrating crawl toward justice. While the gunman and several of the inmates involved have pleaded guilty to lesser charges and are now serving prison sentences, the key figures at the top have largely evaded the law. Bantag’s deputy, Ricardo Zulueta, died of reported heart failure in March 2024 while in hiding. And the alleged architect of the entire plot, Gerald Bantag, remains a high-profile fugitive, taunting the authorities and denying all involvement despite an active warrant for his arrest. The case of Percy Lapid stands as a chilling testament to the dangers faced by journalists in the Philippines and a frustrating story of a justice system that, while capable of catching the foot soldiers, still struggles to hold the powerful to account.