FORMER Justice secretary and now Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday denied any knowledge of the excavation works inside the controversy-ridden New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which supervises the NBP and six other prison facilities all over the country, is an attached agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“As former justice secretary, I had absolutely no knowledge about this alleged excavation inside the NBP compound.”

“The same being an operational matter, the BuCor probably did not find it necessary to inform, much less seek authorization from, the DOJ,” Guevarra said in a message.

Last week, acting BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. disclosed that they found a hole and tunnel in NBP.

According to Catapang, the hole is 200 meters wide and 30 meters deep.

Catapang replaced suspended BuCor chief Gerald Bantag over the mystery-shrouded death of the middleman in the Percy Lapid slay.

But Bantag said he ordered the excavation to build a “swimming pool” claiming he is a “scuba driver.”

AUTHOR PROFILE

Hector Lawas