Kalinga residents deny protecting Bantag

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January 3, 2026 | 12:00am

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines — Residents of Kalinga are refuting claims by some government officials that local tribes are protecting former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag.

The residents said that the remarks of Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla and BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. are harmful to the province and its people.

Kalinga resident Ed Comafay said Remulla and Catapang were using the tribes as a scapegoat for their failure to arrest Bantag.

Comafay said the officials’ remarks showed their lack of understanding of the cultural and geographical realities in the Cordilleras.

He said that Bantag does not belong to any Kalinga tribe and has no ancestral roots in the province.

Bantag is the accused mastermind in the murder of broadcaster Percy Lapid and Cristito Villamor, the middleman in the contract to kill Lapid.