Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. revealed that the excavation work inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City was illegal, according to the report by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

This comes as the BuCor sought a study by the DENR following the discovery of a huge excavation at the time when the agency's chief Gerald Bantag was suspended for other allegations.

Catapang stressed that the BuCor will seek the guidance of the Department of Justice over the specific charges to be filed against Bantag in relation to the excavation.

To recall, Catapang — a former Armed Forces chief of staff — disclosed that they found a hole and tunnel near the director's office in NBP which was 200 meters wide and 30 meters deep.

The suspended BuCor chief, meantime, denied that the digging inside the NBP was meant to become a tunnel for escape and stressed that the excavation was meant for a deep swimming pool to train BuCor personnel in scuba diving.

Bantag claimed there was no tunnel there but there was an excavation for the construction of a scuba diving pool intended to train personnel for disaster preparedness.