BuCor execs: Inmate Cataroja still considered 'missing'

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officials are unaware of the whereabouts of  New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmate Michael Cataroja and are unsure if he is still alive or dead already.

During the House public order and safety committee probe on the case of Cataroja, BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. told lawmakers that the inmate is “missing.”

“Ang status po niya (Cataroja) ay missing. Hangga’t di natin nabubuksan ang lahat ng septic tank at nagagalugad ang buong NBP, our declaration is he is missing,” Catapang told lawmakers, adding that there are at least eight septic tanks in NBP premises.

[His status is missing. Until we open all the septic tanks at looked around the NBP, our declaration is he is missing.]

“Kung wala po [talaga] siya, saka namin idedeclare na nakatakas o AWOL,” Catapang added.

[If we really can’t find him, then we can declare him to have escaped or AWOL.]

For her part, BuCor Deputy Director Angelina Bautista said that Cataroja has a long history of hiding, and that the items found in the septic tank were a piece of underwear and a bone.

“We had a K9 dog who sniffed his clothes in Dorm 5 where he (Cataroja) lives, and the dog followed the smell in the septic tank where there (was) a brief and a bone,” Bautista said.

"Madalas po siya magtago, sabi po ng mga PDL, kasi may utang," Bautista added.

[According to other PDLs, he usually hides because he has so many debts.]

Bautista then said that the bone found in the septic tank is still being examined by the National Bureau of Investigation’s Forensic Unit.

‘Fake news’

“Fake news po ang nakarating kay [Justice] Secretary [Jesus Crispin Remulla] Nakuha po ng camera nilang media, alam po ng media ang totoo. Iyong nakarating po kay Secretary did not come from us. We weren’t the ones who gave that information to the Secretary,” Bautista added.

[What was relayed to Justice Secretary Remulla was fake news and it did not come from us.]

It was Remulla who first announced that Cataroja’s remains were found in an NBP septic tank, but the Justice chief said on Thursday’s hearing that he was a victim of “fake news.”

In addition, Bautista said that Cataroja’s status cannot be ascertained at this point since a recovery team deployed by the BuCor in Angono, Rizal, where Cataroja’s residence is located, spotted his family riding a truck.

“We can’t make a conclusion at this point,” she added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News