FORENSIC experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) have recovered fragments similar to teeth and bones of a human, as checking on the septic tanks inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) continues, Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said Friday, August 11, 2023.
In a radio interview, Catapang said the forensic experts will verify the recovered fragments from the second septic tank and they are expected to release the result of the examination by next week.
Catapang said they are already in the process of clearing the third and last septic tank in the NBP, which he ordered amid several tips that some persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who were reported either missing or having escaped in the past were actually buried there.
Earlier, a team of forensic experts from the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) ruled that the bone fragment recovered from the first septic tank was actually from a chicken, not a human.
The probe was also prompted by the disappearance of the PDL Michael Angelo Cataroja, who Catapang believed had escaped the facility.
Catapang said that 20 personnel were relieved from their posts pending the investigation into Cataroja’s disappearance. (SunStar Philippines)