ORMOC CITY — Police are investigating the discovery of an unidentified body found inside a sack along the provincial highway in Barangay Liberty, Palompon, Leyte, on Wednesday afternoon, July 1, in what authorities suspect may be a case of homicide.
Palompon Officer-in-Charge of Police, Cpt. Rushty Alvarado, said the body was discovered at around 12:50 p.m. by village councilor Eden Rodrigo while she and several companions were conducting a routine inspection of the village’s waterline.
According to Alvarado, village chairman Gilbert Toledo reported the incident to the Palompon Municipal Police Station at around 1:15 p.m., prompting responding officers to proceed to the area to verify the report and secure the scene.
Police found the decomposing body inside a white rice sack bearing the handwritten markings, “BOO: F7, HUWAG TULARAN, DU30.”
Personnel from the Ormoc Forensic Unit processed the crime scene and estimated that the victim had been dead for about three to five days based on the advanced stage of decomposition and the presence of maggots.
Authorities said the victim was wearing a T-shirt and jersey shorts and had a tribal tattoo on the chest. No visible stab or gunshot wounds were found during the initial examination.
Crime scene investigators also recovered a small transparent plastic sachet containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu from the right pocket of the victim’s jersey shorts.
Police have requested the Municipal Health Officer of the Palompon Rural Health Unit to conduct a post-mortem examination to determine the victim’s exact cause of death.
Authorities are continuing efforts to identify the victim and determine the circumstances surrounding the killing. The case remains under investigation.
(ROBERT DEJON)
