Pastor’s body retrieved from pit

MALOLOS CITY – The body of a born-again pastor who fell into a 125-foot deep pit in San Ildefonso, Bulacan last Tuesday was retrieved late Thursday afternoon by the same men who dug it up years ago.

This came as a well-equipped and trained fire department team of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) stopped its attempt to retrieve the body of 41-year-old Arnel David at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

Superintendent Marcos Rivero, San Ildefonso police chief, said the body of David, pastor of the Lord’s Vineyard group in Barangay Pala-pala, was removed from the pit at around 4:15 p.m. Thursday by the former diggers who merely  drank gin, wore ski masks and did the job manually.

Rivero said the SBMA team decided to stop its attempt as it would endanger the lives of its five members due to lack of oxygen down in the pit.

“I had a conference with local officials and told them about the situation,” Ranny Magno, team leader of the SBMA fire department, earlier told The STAR. -  Dino Balabo