Body of abducted trader exhumed in Batangas town

LAUREL, Batangas — The body of a 27-year-old Caloocan City gym owner was exhumed from the public cemetery here 26 days after he was kidnapped.

The victim, Edwin Navarro, was identified by his brother Melvin through his personal belongings, according to Superintendent Francisco Rodriguez, Batangas PNP district supervisor.

Navarro’s body was found in Barangay San Gregorio here last May 19, six days after he was snatched by four men from his Health is Wealth Gym in Maypajo, Caloocan City. It was buried after nobody claimed it for almost a week.

The Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) arrested five suspects, including a dismissed policeman, in Taguig, Rizal also yesterday.

They were identified as Mariano Gareguis, a former member of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF); Armando Jonaldo, 38; Renato Jonaldo, 36; Virgilio Barona, 34; and Rudy Larido.

Reportedly seized from them were five caliber .45 pistols, four M-16 rifles, several rounds of ammunition and a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Police said Navarro had a gunshot wound in the left ear.

Reports said Navarro’s kidnappers had demanded a P40-million ransom but later reduced it to P110,000.

Probers said negotiations for the payoff might have bogged down, resulting in the gym owner’s killing. The Associated Press, however, quoted a police official which it did not name, as saying that Navarro was killed even though his family paid a ransom.

Gareguis, police said, is also charged in court for shooting PO2 Anthony Dechavez while he was still in the SAF. He was said to have gone on AWOL (absent without official leave) in 1999 and was later dismissed. — With Mike Frialde and Jerry Botial