Catapang: About 20 Bilibid guards relieved of their posts amid missing PDL

Around 20 jail guards in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) have been relieved from their posts after Michael Angelo Cataroja, a person deprived of liberty (PDL), went missing, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director-General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said Friday.

Catapang made the remark as he maintained that Cataroja had fled the national penitentiary and that his mother wants to surrender him to Senator Raffy Tulfo.

“Mayroon tayong stakeout sa Angono, Rizal kung nasaan ang bahay ng nanay ni Cataroja. May development din don. Sinasabi ng mga tao, at of course sa interview ng nanay ni Cataroja ay gusto raw isuko kay Senator Raffy Tulfo,” Catapang said in an interview on Dobol B TV.

(We have a stakeout in Angono, Rizal where Cataroja's mother lives. There is development there. According to the mother, she wants to surrender her son to Senator Raffy Tulfo.)

Referring to the jail guards, Catapang said, “Under investigation po sila at of course, wala na muna sila sa posisyon… mga guwardiya po lahat, about 20.”

(All of them are under investigation and of course they have been relieved of their posts. They are all jail guards, about 20 of them.)

According to Catapang, these jail guards were on duty when Cataroja went missing. He refused to identify them as they are still under investigation.

Catapang also reiterated that Cataroja might have escaped from NBP by riding a garbage truck.

“Medyo 'Mission Impossible.' Ang sinasabi nila sumakay daw sa basurahan. Marunong ito kumalikot ng sasakyan. Kumbaga kahit walang susi kaya n’ya — carnapper po kasi ito eh,” Catapang said.

(It's kind of like "Mission Impossible." They said he rode a garbage truck. He is knowledgeable with regards to vehicles as he is a carnapper.)

In the same interview, Catapang said that the allowable money that a PDL can get through virtual wallets was slashed from P2,000 to P1,000.

“Meron kasi ‘yung GCash na pinapa-review din. Pinababa ko muna, dati P2,000 weekly, [ngayon] P1,000 lang muna (I've been asked to review GCash transaction. I slashed it from P2,000 weekly to P1,000 for the meantime),” he said.

He said this was one of the measures he implemented after senators, during a hearing, asked him to fix the NBP.

Earlier, several high profile inmates were transferred to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro.

“Wala kayo signal doon tapos may sarili kayong selda, magkakahiwalay. ‘Yung mga tumatakas doon bumabalik din kasi sabi nila’sir, mamatay kami dito sa bundok, maliligaw kami.” Catapang said.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have launched separate investigations into the problems inside the NBP, including the alleged mass grave inside the facility's septic tanks and the case of Cataroja who has been missing since July 15.—With Jiselle Anne Casucian/KBK, GMA Integrated News