Zulueta, murder case respondent, dies of heart failure

A respondent in the Percy Lapid murder case, Ricardo Zulueta, has died due to heart failure on Friday night.

Zulueta, a former Bureau of Corrections official and deputy security officer, passed away at Bataan Peninsula Medical Center shortly after admission around 11 p.m.

His remains were transported to Barangay Mabiga in Hermosa town, Bataan province.

Journalist Roy Mabasa urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to determine the facts surrounding Zulueta's death and requested an independent autopsy report.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to verify a circulating death certificate of Zulueta.

Zulueta faced murder charges alongside former BuCor chief Gerald Bantag for Lapid's killing on October 3, 2022, in Las Piñas City.

Lapid was the second journalist killed during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.