Sack with skulls found in Barili

A sack containing skulls and religious icons was found in a grassy lot in barangay Malolos, Barili town last Saturday afternoon.

Reports reaching the Cebu Provincial Police Office stated that a coconut gatherer named Rick Dela Cerna of Aloguinsan town saw the sack in a lot owned by Fortunato Tanilon while he was on top of a coconut tree Saturday afternoon.

Inside the sack were four human skulls and other human bones, a Santo Niño icon, a Saint Augustine icon, a crucifix and green rosary beads.

The police found out from the residents that no one was reported missing from their barangay and nearby areas.

PO1 Ildefonso Cutas said the sack will be turned over to the PNP Crime Laboratory for proper disposition.

Cutas said the items in the sack were rumored to have been used by an unidentified cult in rituals believed to bestow certain powers to individuals. Then again, he said these items may have just been gathered from the cemetery.

Last month, the police and military were able to recover skeletal remains of a family in Balamban town believed to have been liquidated by the New People’s Army.

Before that, a skeleton was recovered from a mountain barangay of Cebu City, also allegedly a victim of the insurgents in the 1980s. — Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP