By Zaldy Comanda
BAGUIO CITY-- Five bodies and two skeletons were discovered on Tuesday at the bottom of a 30-meter-deep ravine, beside the national road on Sitio Poyopoy, Barangay Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet.
Five bodies and two skeletons were discovered on Tuesday at the bottom of a 30-meter-deep ravine, beside the national road on Sitio Poyopoy, Barangay Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet. (JJ Landingin / MANILA BULLETIN)
Another body was retrieved Wednesday from the same site.
Col. Elmer Ragay, Benguet police chief, said a resident went to the Tuba municipal police station Tuesday morning to report a stench emanating from the ravine.
Police officers accompanied by residents climbed down and immediately found two bodies. A further search revealed three more bodies and human skeletal remains.
The bodies were brought to the highway with the help of Bureau of Fire Protection and the rescue group 911 on Call.
One body was a female, while the other four were in an advanced state of decomposition.
The initial report of the Scene of the Crime Operation team indicated that the two skeletal remains were more or less a year old. Four of the bodies were two weeks old and the fifth just over a month.
One of the bodies was identified by his relatives Wednesday as Fahab, said to be a Muslim resident of Baguio City.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory Service was still examining the other remains.
Sitio Poyopoy has long had a reputation for being the dumping ground of victims of summary executions.