ABS-CBN executives and cast of the television series “Ang Batang Quiapo” yesterday met with officials of the Bureau of Correction led by its director general Gregorio Catapang Jr. after the agency complained of scenes that it said malign its reputation.
ABS-CBN chief operating officer Cory Vidanes, Mark Lapid and actor Coco Martin met with Catapang and other agency official at the BuCor main office in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City where they explain their side on the scenes complained of by the agency.
In a statement issued by Catapang’s office, it said that the ABS-CBN executives “apologize to the Bureau and assured them that they do not intend to besmirch the reputation of the BuCor and its officials.”
It said that Lapid asked BuCor to at least give them until December to adjust.
“Kaya po kami nandito ngayon para personal po na humingi ng paumanhin pero wala po kaming intensiyon na manira o makasakit. Wag po kayong mag alala at lahat naman po yan ay binabalanse natin,” the statement said, quoting Martin.
Catapang said the meeting took place after the agency wrote ABS-CBN a letter due to the “misleading concepts” about BuCor that were portrayed in “Ang Batang Quiapo” and requested that the people behind the show to immediately refrain from depicting scenes that malign the reputation of the agency and its employees.
Among the scenes in the television series that the BuCor questioned at the Sept.22 episode wherein an inmate portrayed by Vandolph Quizon and actors playing as jail officers conspired to kill a certain lawmaker through the instruction of “Chief Espinas” played by actress Jacqueline Jose as the head of the “Corrections Agency.”
This was followed by the Sept.27 and Oct.3 episodes showing the same inmate given the instructions to kill the lawmaker with the knowledge of “Espinas.”
The agency also complained of the Oct.9 episode showing Martin who portrayed the role of inmate “Tanggol” getting out of his cell to do the hit job.
There are also scenes, according to the agency, wherein actors posing as BuCor correction officers wear uniforms that are identical to the uniforms worn by the agency’s commissioned and non-commissioned officers.
“While the show makes use of a different agency appellation, it cannot be helped but notice that the same makes a clear and undeniable reference to the National Penitentiary, which this Bureau represents and hence, may affect or influence the perception of the viewers about our agency,” Catapang said.
“Although there is a disclaimer at the start of the program, we still take offense on that fact that due to the very close association, borne of said depictions, the same will be generally injurious to the image of the Bucor, especially in these times that the agency is in the midst of an organizational cleansing to genuinely reform the BuCor,” he added.
Catapang’s predecessor, Gerald Bantag and his deputy, Ricardo Zulueta, have been tagged as the masterminds in the 2022 killings of radio broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid’ Mabasa and Bilibid inmate Cristito Palana Villamor alias Jun Villamor.
Villamor was allegedly killed to prevent him from spilling the beans on the mastermind behind Lapid’s killing.
