COTABATO CITY (PNA) – Police found the body of the lady physician who disappeared on July 23 buried in a shallow grave inside the government-owned medical center here.
Police Col. Querubin Manalang, city police director, said the remains of Dr. Marivic Tello, an obstetrician-gynecologist, were buried at the back portion of the Cotabato Medical Society (CMS) building inside the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) compound.
“We found the remains at the back of the building at 8 a.m. today (Thursday). There was fresh earth fill covered by banana leaves that were arranged,” he said.
Retired Police Brig. Gen. Agustin Tello, former Maguindanao police director who was at the site, confirmed that the body from the shallow grave was that of his wife.
“My wife is the treasurer of Cotabato Medical Society, she and her friend in the society were in our house on Saturday night, talking about money matters of the medical society,” Tello said.
Manalang said a review of closed-circuit security cameras showed that Dr. Tello arrived at about 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. She went missing since then.
Meanwhile, police here are now in custody of a suspect, identified as Nasrudin Endaila, a CMS office secretary, who confessed to the killing.
Endaila, who was presented by Mayor Mohammad Matabalao and police officials to the media here, said a harsh conversation between him and Dr. Tello transpired before the killing inside the CMS building.
“She fell asleep at her office in the building and I just went for it,” he said.
The CRMC is yet to issue a statement.