Former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag and former BuCor Deputy Officer Ricardo Zulueta are officially banned from departing the country after the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that the hold departure order (HDO) issued by a Muntinlupa court against the two officials is now encoded on its system.

In a statement on Friday, BI said its Commissioner Norman Tansingco received the HDO dated April 25 from the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) on Thursday.

“The HDO was immediately encoded in our centralized system, and may be seen by our immigration officers at all ports nationwide,” Tansingco said as quoted by the agency.

“Should they be encountered in any airport or seaport, they will be prevented from departing without prior approval from the courts,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Las Pinas RTC and Muntinlupa RTC respectively issued a warrant of arrest against Bantag and Zulueta over the murders of veteran radio broadcaster Percival Mabasa or better known as Percy Lapid, and the alleged middleman in the slay case, Cristito ‘Jun’ Villamor.