Forensic exams: 'Bilibid's septic tanks not mass graves'
New Bilibid Prison
Three septic tanks at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City are not mass graves, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said in Thursday, Aug. 24.
“Walang human remains na nakuha (there have been no human remains found) after those recovered from the three septic tanks underwent forensic examinations, Catapang said.
“Relieved din tayo dahil ang kinakatakutan natin na may ganoong klaseng problema ay wala naman pala (We are relieved now after finding that what we are afraid of is non-existent),” DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV said.
“So, we hope na patuloy na lang yung mga reporma po natin (our reforms will continue),” Clavano said.
Catapang said the forensic examinations were conducted separately by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) and the University of the Cordilleras.
He said the results of the examinations have been released and “we have submitted them to the DOJ and then to Congress. Finally, na resolve na yung issue. Kung wala naman talagang mass grave, ‘di so be it (Finally the issue has been resolved. If there is no mass grave then so be it).”
Suspicion that NBP’s septic tanks could be mass graves arose during the search for NBP’s person deprived of liberty Michael Angelo Cataroja who was suspected to have been killed and the body dumped into one of the septic tanks.
When BuCor sought the help of K9 Task Force of the Philippine Coast Guard, searchers were led to the septic tank of the NBP’s maximum-security compound.
The NBI was first to submit is examination and said that the bone recovered from the septic tank was not of a human being’s but a bone of a chicken leg.
Cataroja had been re-arrested by operatives of the Philippine National Police last Aug. 17 and has been turned over to the NBP.