Gregorio Catapang Jr.

Since taking over as officer in charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in October, Gregorio Catapang Jr. has been uncovering one irregularity after another, each adding to the controversies hounding the man he had replaced, the suspended Gerald Bantag. A former military chief, Catapang said he intended to spend the next three months looking into issues and anomalies at the BuCor in fine detail. Over the last few days, he had discovered the following at New Bilibid Prison: some 7,500 smuggled cans of beer, a massive excavation project (which Bantag claimed to be for a deep diving pool but the justice secretary later branded as a Bantag-ordered search operation for the fabled “Yamashita gold’’); and a collection of horses, fighting cocks and pythons. In his inspections, Catapang chose to rely more on K9 units rather than bring in new teams from the police or military. Next, he said, he would harness new technology—drones, security and body cameras—to deter illegal activities among BuCor personnel.