Body found in Tarlac is missing CA justice

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday confirmed that a cadaver found in Tarlac in October was the missing retired Court of Appeals (CA) justice Normandie Pizarro.

NBI spokesman Ferdinand Lavin told The STAR that the bureau received the DNA results, identifying the cadaver found in Tarlac as that of the missing justice.

Pizarro was last seen exiting a hotel in Clark, Pampanga on Oct. 23.

His body was found on Oct. 30 in Barangay Laway in Capas.

The killers cut off the fingers of the retired justice, possibly to prevent identification through his fingerprints, said Lavin, head of the NBI’s forensic investigation service.

The NBI forensics team identified Pizarro’s body through the DNA test using his bones.

Pizarro’s vehicle was found abandoned and with bloodstains in Simon, Pampanga on Oct. 28.

In 2018, Pizarro penned the controversial decision that freed former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, who was tagged in the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega.

The CA reversed the decision a year later and ordered the arrest of Reyes, who at the time was serving time in jail for graft.

In the same year, Pizarro reaffirmed a CA decision, rejecting the grant of $2 billion compensation to martial law victims of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In 2017, Pizarro reversed the conviction of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles in connection with the illegal detention of whistle-blower Benhur Luy.