Mountain area yields another salvage victim

Cebu City policemen are now suspecting that the mountain barangays have become the dumping sites of salvage victims after another unidentified man was found dead Sunday dawn in sitio Maling barangay Babag.

The recovery followed the identification of a salvage victim whose body was recovered last November 11. The victim, identified as 22-year-old Sergio Pagobo of sitio Matab-ang in barangay Day-as, Cordova, sustained gunshot wounds to the mouth and body.

Pagobo’s body was found near a dried creek in sitio Garahe in barangay Busay few minutes after a car was seen speeding away from the area.

A witness told police that he heard gunshots and later saw the vehicle fleeing the place. Personnel from Scene of the Crime Operations found one empty shell of a .45 caliber bullet in the area.

Cebu City Police Office director Patrocinio Comendador told reporters that they believed that those people found dead in those areas are victims of extra-judicial executions by still unidentified perpetrators.

Comendador said they already have a lead on the Pagobo killing which could be connected to illegal drugs.

The unidentified body that was recovered last Sunday in barangay Babag bore several gunshot wounds to the head and body. The man, estimated to be about 5’4 in height, was wearing short pants and T-shirts. His hands were handcuffed and his legs were hogtied with a packaging tape.

Written on the tape around his face and legs were the words, “ako kawatan.”

Police recovered three empty shells of .45 caliber bullets and three others for 9 millimeter bullets from the crime scene. The pieces of evidence are now in the custody of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory for examination.

Based on the manner of the killing, Comendador said it was not the handiwork of the vigilantes, although many victims of the vigilantes were former jail inmates.

Comendador said they cannot immediately confirm that the victim was a thief because the markings might just be intended to mislead the investigators.

 Inspector Mario Monilar, chief of the CCPO Homicide Section, told The Freeman that they would wait for the autopsy result to determine if the victim was still alive when brought to the area. — Edwin Ian Melecio/LPM