President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr ordered Bantag to be suspended for 60 days to allow “a fair, impartial investigation on the matter so that all doubts will be put to rest”, according to justice secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.

However, Bantag on Tuesday said he was suspended “because I have stepped on too many toes [including] drug lords. They would all celebrate this”.

Police had on October 18 presented to the media confessed gunman Joel Estorial, who revealed that “the contract to kill came from inside Bilibid through a middleman”. He decided to surrender because “my conscience was stricken” and asked for forgiveness from the Mabasa family.

Estorial said six men – including himself and the “middleman” inside Bilibid – were collectively paid 550,000 pesos (US$9,350) for “the job”, with Estorial himself receiving 140,000 pesos for pulling the trigger. Ballistics matched the gun Estorial had surrendered, authorities said.

There were two gunmen on the night of the murder with orders to shoot if Mabasa came within sight, according to Estorial. “It so happened I had him in my sight, that’s why I shot him,” he said.

The killing has alarmed media professionals. The fact that the murder took place in the metropolitan capital “indicates how brazen the perpetrators are”, said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), adding that journalism remained “a dangerous profession in the country”.

Mabasa is only the third journalist to have been killed in Metro Manila, but nearly 200 people have been killed nationwide since 1986, according to data by the NUJP.

NUJP noted that Mabasa, whose YouTube channel had about 223,000 subscribers, “had been critical of the Duterte administration as well as some personalities in and policies of the Marcos administration”.

Mabasa had also warned of the “security risks of [continuing to host] Philippine offshore gaming operators and on historical distortion of martial law” imposed by the incumbent president’s late father Ferdinand Marcos Snr in 1972.

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Police last week assured the public they had secured the “middleman” inside the Bilibid. Officers later revealed the “middleman” named Cristito Palaña had died suddenly, citing “cardiac arrest”, but the cause of death was listed as “undetermined” on the death certificate.

A second “middleman” was still alive, police said, declining to reveal his name.

Palaña’s sister, who has also remained unnamed and appeared before the media wearing a face mask, on Monday told Senator Raffy Tulfo that her brother had contacted her through Facebook Messenger soon after Estorial’s press conference, saying the order to kill Mabasa “came from inside the national penitentiary office”.

He had named the possible suspects and asked her to reveal them should something happen to him.

On the same day, Tulfo referred her to the Department of Justice to be placed under witness protection. Palaña died on October 18 at 2pm, according to his sister, barely hours after Estorial’s public confession.

National police chief Azurin said he now suspected foul play in Palaña’s case and that they still did not know the mastermind.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who met the Mabasa family on Tuesday, said they told her they were now receiving death threats. Authorities had also told the family Palaña had died of “bangungot” – a Filipino term for sudden unexpected death during sleep.

Political and market risk analyst Jonathan Ravelas, managing director of eManagement for Business and Marketing Services, told This Week in Asia on Tuesday that the murder “is a test case for the Marcos administration”.

Meanwhile, On the Job director Erik Matti told a radio network he found it “weird” that netizens saw similarities between his series and the murder. The series has been nominated for next month’s International Emmy Awards for best TV movie or miniseries. A three-hour sequel is the official Philippine entry to next year’s Oscars.