It was a chicken leg bone, and not the bone of a human being, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said of the bone recovered at the septic tank of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
The revelation was done by Dr. Annalyne R. Dadiz of the NBI’s medico legal division during a hearing held at NBP on Tuesday, Aug. 8, by the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
The hearing was presided over by Sen. Francis Tolentino, chairman of the committee, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, and Sen. Robin Padilla.
“We concluded it is not of human origin,” said Dadiz who noted that the NBI conducted a forensic examination on the bone recovered and found it to be “consistent with chicken leg bone.”
Aside from the bone, Cadiz said that the other items recovered from the septic tank included an underwear and two lighters.
Also, aside from the NBI, anthropologists were asked by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), upon the directive of Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, to examine the residue and objects found inside the septic tank.
During the hearing, University of the Philippines (UP) anthropologist Jonathan Taduran told senators that he has started writing the report and will soon release the findings.
BuCor decided to dig up the septic tank at NBP’s maximum-security compound after the K9 Task Force of the Philippine Coast Guard led BuCor personnel to the tank in search for a missing person deprived of liberty.
The missing PDL, Michael Cataroja, has not been found.
“Malaki kutob ko nakatakas (I believe that he has escaped),” BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said during the hearing.
Leaders of PDLs at NBP told the senators they noticed that Cataroja was missing last July 15 following the counting of inmates. But they said they did not know Cataroja’s whereabout or how he has gone missing.