The fugitive from the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa, who was recaptured in Angono, Rizal on Thursday, August 17, has been escorted back to the national penitentiary.
Angono Police Station duty personnel told Manila Bulletin that Michael Angelo Cataroja, 27, a resident of Angono, Rizal, was being transported to the NBP as of 3 p.m. on August. 18.
Cataroja was escorted by Bureau of Corrections personnel, members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), personnel of the Angono Police Station and the Rizal Police Provincial Office. He was moved out of his detention cell around 2:30 p.m.
The office of Rizal Police Provincial Office director, Col. Dominic Baccay, said the Angono Police Station re-arrested Cataroja, an inmate at the NBP’s maximum security compound, at Villa Angelina in Sitio Manggahan, Barangay San Isidro around 4:38 p.m. on Thursday, August 17.
Police said Cataroja, jailed for carnapping charges and violation of the Anti-Fencing Law, claimed that he was able to escape from the NBP by pretending to be a visitor in the maximum security compound of the NBP on July 7. But police authorities said the inmate’s escape story has yet to be proven and supported by facts.
He was first believed to have been killed and dumped in the NBP’s septic tank but the theory was later proven otherwise after forensics expert claimed that the bone found in the sewer belonged to a chicken and not from a human.
Earlier, Bucor chief Gregorio Catapang said he believed that Cataroja was still alive after he managed to escape from the maximum security facility.
Cataroja was presented to Southern Luzon Police commander Lt. Gen. Rhoderick Armamento and Region 4-A director Brig. Gen. Carlito Gaces at Camp Vicente Lim in Laguna late Thursday night.

(Photos from Rizal Police Provincial Office)