Anthropologists examine remains in Bilibid septic tank

MANILA, Philippines — Experts tapped by the government have started to examine suspected human remains inside a septic tank in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said yesterday.

Anthropologists Nestor Castro from the University of the Philippines and Richard Jonathan Taduran from the Lyceum of the Philippines Davao and the University of the Cordilleras arrived at the national penitentiary on Aug. 3.

The BuCor said the experts were to “collect residue and examine hard objects found inside the Septic Tank 1.”

Quoting Taduran, the BuCor said the experts have so far separated sediments for further examination to determine whether those they collected were human bones or not.

“Their findings will be out within two days to one week,” the bureau said.

Taduran is a forensic scientist specializing in biological and forensic anthropology while Castro specializes in cultural anthropology, wherein his expertise includes environmental and social impact assessment and cultural heritage management.

Authorities tapped the experts amid a new controversy involving the BuCor, wherein officials found what are believed to be human remains in the NBP maximum security facility’s septic tank while searching for inmate Michael Angelo Cataroja, who has been missing since July 15.

NBP Superintendent Angelina Bautista said the septic tank could be a “mass grave,” according to the inmates interviewed.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla later said Cataroja’s decapitated body was found near a criminal gang’s area in the facility, adding that two more mass graves may be found in the NBP.

However, in a House of Representatives hearing on Aug. 3, Remulla retracted his statement about the missing inmate, saying he got the wrong information and was a victim of “fake news.”