Bantag could Suffer the Fate of Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Former Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag was caught lying through his teeth when exposed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla that he ordered the excavation through a deep hole and a tunnel at the compound of the BuCors to foray for the fabled Yamashita Treasure.
The beleaguered Bantag told the media in November 11 he ordered the excavation to build a swimming pool because he is a “master scuba diver.”

A horseshit we learned later.

BELEAGUERED suspended former Bureau of Corrections Chief Gerald Bantag (left, photo) and Chicago's Mafia Boss Al Capone.

Those who vigorously believed - like his fellow Cordillerans - that Bantag was an upright man and did not mastermind the murder of acerbic tongue Percy Lapid and Cristito Palaña would have a second thought about his credibility after his rebuffed from Remulla.

 Can you still remember the legal Latin maxim: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (False in one thing, false in everything)?

With and without his credibility, Bantag for me, however, can still weather the storm on the double murder cases he faces.

The criminal charges filed by the law enforcers and consolidated by the prosecutors at the DOJ have holes.

 Bantag could be exonerated by the Supreme Court if ever he would be convicted by the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.

Without his alleged butcher (berdugo) SJ02 Ricardo Zulueta – absconded because he was accused to order the three gang leaders to kill Palana who ordered the murder of Lapid – exposing Bantag as the master mind, the Court of Appeals (CA) or the Supreme Court – after five to seven years of litigation will absolve Bantag in case the judge of the Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest and eventually convicted him.

The C.A or the Supreme Court will acquit Bantag due to the cardinal principle of “Proof beyond reasonable doubt”. It means the evidence presented by the prosecution must produce in the mind of the Court a moral certainty of the accused's guilt against any cloud of doubt.

Without Zulueta who had the personal knowledge that Bantag allegedly ordered him to do those dastardly acts I mentioned above, the case will not stand on the cold neutrality of a competent judge.

***

Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

Even if he would not be convicted eventually, he could still suffer the fate of U.S Mafia’s Boss Al Capone.
Known too as "Scarface", Capone attained notoriety during the Prohibition era (illegal selling of alcoholic beverages) as the co-founder and honcho of the mafia’s Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.
When Capone replaced syndicate’s godfather Johnny Torrio – after he was almost killed in a rival gang’s ambush -- the former expanded the bootlegging business through violence against his nemesis.
He was responsible for the killing of more or less 100 persons that interfere with his vice and gambling houses in Chicago.

One of the milestones of his infamy, Capone helped the victories of Republican mayoral candidate William Hale Thompson in the 1927 electoral derby. Thompson supported the reopening of illegal saloons that made him a recipient of the mafia's boss $250, 000 election contribution. Thompson beat William Emmett Dever.
The mafia chief backed up to the hilt the mayoralty bet through his bomber James Belcastro. The factotum bombed to death 15 of Thompson's opponents. Belcastro was accused too of murdering lawyer Octavius Granady, an African American who challenged Thompson for the African American votes.
Capone was accused too of the 1926 murder of Assistant State Attorney William H. McSwiggin, the 1928 murders of chief investigator Ben Newmark and former mentor Frankie Yale.
The end of his infamous career started when he was suspected for ordering the massacre of seven rival gang’s members dubbed as the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.
In the wake of the carnage, Walter A. Strong, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, asked his friend President Herbert Hoover for federal intervention to mitigate Chicago's lawlessness that went haywire.
The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and charged him with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted of five counts in 1931.
The Scarface – whose life story became a model of mafia flicks like his snazzy coat and tie dressing - was jailed in May 1932 at Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary and in August 1934 at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California.

***

Now! Where’s Gerald Bantag on this Al Capone’s equation? Not on the number of killings in the slammer because the mafia boss’ 100 people killed would be a child’s play on Bantag's 3,002 dead con men - many mysteriously - from his 2019 to 2021 stints at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa.

Incase Bantag escapes conviction in the murders of Lapid and Palaña, he can be convicted and be jailed – through direct witnesses like Remulla – that he ordered the illegal digging at the expense of the government.

Here are some of the law provisions that can be used against him:

- Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, treasure hunting in government properties or portions of the public domain shall not be allowed, except upon prior authority of the President of the Philippines, according to the Marcosian Law in the 1980s (Presidential Decree No. 1726-A – Providing Guidelines on Treasure Hunting).

- The Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act provides:
 (a) Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority… (Section 3).

Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government (paragraph e, Section 3)

h) Directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest (Section3).

Section 9. Penalties for violations. — (a) Any public officer or private person committing any of the unlawful acts or omissions enumerated in Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six years and one month nor more than fifteen years, perpetual disqualification from public office, and confiscation or forfeiture in favor of the Government of any prohibited interest and unexplained wealth manifestly out of proportion to his salary and other lawful income.