By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Charged as one of the alleged brains in the killing of broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, former deputy security officer of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Ricardo Zulueta has passed away due to heart failure.
On Saturday (16 March 2024), police said Zulueta, 42, was dead on arrival at the Bataan Peninsula Medical Center in Dinalupihan town at 11 p.m. Friday (15 March 2024).
A police report said it was Zulueta’s brother Ronald who rushed him to the hospital.
Zulueta’s body was then brought to a funeral home and later transferred to Barangay Mabiga in Hermosa town.
Last year, Zulueta was charged in court, along with former BuCor chief Gerald Bantag, with two counts of murder over the killing of Lapid and alleged middleman Jun Villamor.
To recall, in March 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said “It was respondent Zulueta who provided the amount of P350,000 as additional payment to the hitman/killer and told respondent (Alvin) Labra that respondent Bantag is thanking them for the assassination.”
On Friday, June 23, 2023, Las Pinas City Regional Trial Court Branch 254 Presiding Judge Harold Cesar Hulinganga sentenced Bilibid gang leaders Aldrin Galicia, Alvin Labra, and Alfie Peñaredonda for being accessories in the killing of Lapid.
(el Amigo/MNM)
