FORMER Armed Forces (AFP) Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang is embroiled in another controversy after being tagged by the so-called ‘Brave 18’ of also delivering millions of pesos in suitcases to disgraced former House Appropriations Committee chair, Ako Bikol Partylist Rep. Zaldy Co.
This time, Catapang, who has just been recognized as a “modern hero for integrity” in September last year as head of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), is accused of knowingly tolerating the existence and operation of a ‘BucorTel’ (hotel) inside the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (SPPF) in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro mainly catering to detained Chinese ‘HVTs’ (high value targets) or drug lords.
Sources within the BuCor who declined to be named for the moment, claimed that one building in the more than 16,000 hectares sprawling facility has been converted into a 10-rooms “VIP hotel” with each room for the exclusive use by the detained foreigners in exchange for a fee. The amount of “rent,” however, was not disclose.
The sources averred that even the operation and supervision of visiting areas of the SPPF have been allegedly turned over to the control of the detained Chinese, again also in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash.
At their press conference at the Club Filipino in San Juan City last February 23, 18 former members of the Philippine Marines and the Philippine Army, in their sworn joint affidavit, claimed that Catapang is among those they previously claimed as seeing delivering money in suitcases to Co, at the parking lot of the Shangri La Hotel, Bonifacio Global City.
The group had previously served as bodyguards and security escorts for many years to Co, one of the closest allies of former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and President Marcos Jr. Co was forced to flee the country last year after being tagged as one of the “brains” in the multi-billion flood control project scam.
Their group affidavit, however, did not say where Catapang got the money.
It can be recalled that Catapang is the AFP chief during the ‘2015 Mamasapano Incident’ where 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were massacred by Moro terrorists while conducting a mission at the behest of the United States government.
Catapang fell into disgrace for failure to send immediate help to the beleaguered policemen that resulted to their brutal death.
In October 2022, however, as fraternity brother of then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla (Upsilon Sigma Phi), Catapang got a chance of being ‘rehabilitated’ as BuCor director, a post he continues to occupy until now.
Sources said that inside the VIP rooms, detained drug lords have freedom to do what they want including the partaking of vices and women.
They claimed that BuCor officials have resorted to a legal maneuver to justify the installation of air-conditioners, televisions and other amenities for the use of the inmates by labeling them as “donations.”
The sources also urged the Palae to conduct an audit of the BuCor claiming that Catapang is also involved in ‘ghost projects.’
They claimed that while the budget for one facility has already been fully released, it is yet to be completed as only the concrete posts have been erected up to now.