Improvised weapons and two-way radios were among the banned items seized from inmates at the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, the Bureau of Corrections under its new chief, former general Gregorio Catapang Jr., reported yesterday.

The BuCor said that the prohibited items were discovered during a surprise intensive search dubbed "Oplan Galugad" conducted over the weekend at the NBP compound housing persons deprived of liberty for very serious crimes, including those meted out life imprisonment.

Catapang was appointed to head BuCor, which oversees the NBP and other penal facilities in the country for convicted felons, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., through Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, suspended the erstwhile bureau chief, Gerald Bantag, for 90 days.

Bantag was among the persons of interest tagged in the murder last 3 October of broadcast journalist Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa purportedly by a team of six men led by self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial.

Escorial on 18 October owned up to the contract killing in a press conference. Hours later, supposed "middleman" Jun Villamor who, Escorial said, facilitated the P550,000 kill job, would be declared dead inside the NBP.

Villamor's death was initially tagged by the authorities to have been due to "natural causes" after an autopsy by the National Bureau of Investigation. However, forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun said after a second post-mortem examination that Villamor may have been killed through asphyxia by putting a plastic bag over his head.

BuCor said the search at the NBI was aimed to seize illegal items spirited into the country's premier jail facility which in past searches also had inmates being found with guns, drugs and mobile phones.

"Marissa," a sister of Villamor, citing phone messages with him, claimed three "mayores" or prison bosses ordered the killing of Mabasa over his hard-hitting tele-radio and social media commentaries.

Bantag has rued his inclusion among the persons of interest in the Mabasa case, with some of his defenders saying he may have earned the ire of drug lords he had stopped at the NBP thus the alleged effort to discredit and implicate him.

Remulla said last week that he may name the "masterminds" in the killing of Mabasa this week.

Catapang, on the other hand, has vowed to effect reforms at BuCor and the prison systems under its management.