By Dominique Simone R. Saraspi

Suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag not only faced issues related to the murder of Percival “Percy Lapid”, but is also associated with other controversies during his time as corrections chief.

In an ABS-CBN News report last week, BuCor officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang stated that they have found a 200-meter wide and 30-meter deep tunnel inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). 

On November 16, Wednesday, Catapang said that there were no pocketed public funds for the excavation within Bilibid, saying that it “is not funded by BuCor” which is why it was kept as a secret by the previous leadership.

However, Bantag stated that he was the one who ordered the excavation inside NBP to build a swimming pool because he is a “master scuba diver”, stating that he wants to construct the “deepest swimming pool” in Metro Manila.

“Alam ko yun, ‘yung hukay na ‘yon. Ako rin ang nagpahukay noon. Diver ako e. Scuba diver. Ang plano namin doon deep swimming pool,” Bantag responded in an interview with News 5, denying claims that the excavation was done for escaping inmates or smuggling of contrabands.

However, Catapang said that building a swimming pool inside the national penitentiary is not part of Bantag’s office mandate, which only includes “safekeeping and instituting reformation programs [for] national inmates sentenced to more than three (3) years,” as stated in the Republic Act No. 10575.

He added that the excavation site is “located beside a wall and a creek nearby” where people can escape from the NBP, saying that he will “leave it to the investigators to give their recommendations” against Bantag over the said excavation.

He also stated that they are currently investigating the private construction firm associated with the excavation inside the national prison.

Thumbnail from ABS-CBN