ONE more septic tank needs to be opened and checked to determine if here is indeed a mass grave inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) after the first septic tank yielded only one bone — from a chicken leg.
This was suggested by Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Catapang during the hearing inside the NBP’s maximum security compound presided by Sen. Francis Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate Justice committee.
A surprised Tolentino blurted out, “Ha, chicken leg?” on hearing the testimony of NBI Medico-Legal Division member Dr. Annalyne Dadiz.
According to Dadiz, they conducted the process of forensic identification and through this process, they made use of elimination and comparison and they concluded that the bone was not human.
“We have one piece of bone and this is not of human origin. In all likelihood, through the process of comparison, it is consistent with chicken leg bone,” she said.
“I think the photo, the one that is shown in the media, the one that you have, I think it is just zoomed out. But if you try to compare it with the actual size of a chicken leg bone, it is equal, consistent to a chicken leg bone,” she explained.
Dadiz said they also retrieved from the septic tank a piece of nderwear and a razor, but they could not tell to whom it belonged. She said the septic tank was totally emptied.
Another forensic team from the University of the Philippines is expected to release its examination findings on the bone within the week.
The Senate inquiry was launched following the reported retrieval from the septic tank of what Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla initially said was the decapitated body of a person deprived of liberty named Michael Angelo Cataroja, who was reported missing since July 15.
The next day, Remulla retracted his statement, saying they have yet to identify the body found.
He said it could be related to the so-called killing inside the facility before Catapang assumed office in March.
Catapang expressed the belief that Cataroja had escaped from the maximum security compound.
“He’s a small person who can be hidden in a sack and resemble a trash bag… This could happen because he’s small,” he said.
Senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Robin Padilla said this could indicate the “laxity” of security in the NBP facility.
Padilla said he could not believe that an inmate could escape from the maximum security compound, noting the tight security and the conduct of daily inspections in the chamber.
He pointed out the air must be cleared on the recent issues at Bilibid, noting he cannot discount that some of the reports may be “fake news.”
According to Padilla, during the 3.5 years he spent at Bilibid, he managed to turn his life around. “I was happy to return here today because this was where I found peace.
I cannot quite believe the things I have heard. This is far from the Bilibid I knew,” he added.