A rookie lawmaker lambasted the leadership of the Bureau of Corrections for not installing adequate CCTV in the facilities of the New Bilibid Prison despite having a big chunk of the budget.
On Tuesday’s motu proporio inquiry of the House public order and safety committee probe into the case of Michael Angelo Catarroja, 25, an inmate from NBP who was reportedly missing since 15 July, 1-Rider Partylist Rep. Bonifacio Bosita stressed that it might be less complicated to track down Cataroja’s whereabouts only if there is sufficient CCTV in the area.
“If the NBP has CCTV, I think after Mr. Cataroja was reported missing and unaccounted for, it would have been found out immediately. You have millions of funds, this CCTV is very basic. Even those small stores, cafeterias have CCTV,” Bosita told BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr.
The lawmaker was provoked when Catapang told lawmakers that NBP when it was turned over to his superintendence, lacked CCTV installed in the facilities.
“There were CCTVs, but they weren’t working. So we replace the ones that don’t work one by one,” the BuCor chief said.
“When I sat down (in the position), I put it [CCTVs] because there was none before. But now they are slowly installing [CCTVs] in the facilities,” Catapang said, noting that 20 to 25 percent of CCTVs have already been installed around the BuCor headquarters.
Catapang emphasized that BuCor is working with a “very limited budget,” and it would cost them P25 to P30 million to fill the corners of BuCor with CCTVs.
He disclosed that the BuCor had allocated more or less P600 million for the NBP’s budget for logistics in 2024. For this year, the budget was only pegged at about P20 million, according to Catapang.
Bosita said installing CCTVs should be at the top of the list to safeguard PDLs while also catching corrupt officers off guard.
“Mr. Chair, it seems that the NBP management is weak. Because when it comes to security, protection, dedication to service, with all due respect, you should think about it first,” Bosita told Catapang.
“I think, Mr. Chair, if this is not given priority, attention, the problems, issues, and concerns involving personnel of NBP and our PDLs, it will happen again and again. And I hope I’m wrong, maybe we don’t want to prioritize this because maybe we’re protecting something that we’re involved in,” the solon pointed out.
The panel, chaired by Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, held its first motu proporio with a heated exchange between lawmakers and some BuCor officials as the latter has yet to locate the whereabouts of Cataroja.
According to Catapang, and two other BuCor officials, Cataroja, whose body is suspected to be the remains found inside a septic tank, would still be under “missing” status until all the septic tanks at NBP were checked.
“If we really can’t find him, then we can declare him to have escaped or AWOL,” Catapang told the panel.
The “missing” PDL is serving his 10-year sentence at the NBP, where he was admitted in 2022. He also faced a violation of the anti-fencing law.
According to BuCor deputy director Angelina Bautista, it is still unknown if the piece of bone and underwear inside the septic tank belongs to Cataroja, whom she claimed has a long history of hiding.
“We didn’t see a dead body. We saw the brief and then a piece of bone,” she said.
The National Bureau of Investigation’s Forensic Unit, which examines the bone, has yet to release the result, according to Bautista.