BACOLOD CITY – Police on Monday, March 17, exhumed the bodies of four unidentified men in their search for Henry V. Tayo Jr., a detainee of Police Station 8 here missing since September 2022.
THE bodies of two unidentified men buried in a cemetery in Murcia, Negros Occidental are exhumed in line with the search for a missing detainee of the Bacolod City Police Station 8. (Photo courtesy of Ann Defensor Lisay)
Police Lt. Col. Joery Puerto, head of the Operations Management Unit of the Bacolod City Police Office, said that two bodies were exhumed in a cemetery in Murcia, Negros Occidental, one in Bago City, and another in Barangay Handumanan here.
Puerto said that they plan to meet Tayo’s family to collect DNA sample for comparison with exhumed bodies. A match would confirm Tayo’s identity.
Tayo was arrested for allegedly stealing a cellular phone in Magsungay, Barangay Singcang-Airport here in September 2022.
After the mandatory 12-hour detention period expired and with no charges filed by the complainant, he was released from custody. Two days later, Tayo’s family reported him missing.
His family filed a petition for a Writ of Amparo before a court here to compel the police to reveal Tayo’s whereabouts.
The court denied the petition, ruling there was insufficient evidence showing police involvement in Tayo’s disappearance.
The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) appealed the case to the Supreme Court (SC) that granted the motion as Tayo’s enforced disappearance met the criteria under the Writ of Amparo.
The SC ruled that police failure to provide critical information, including video footage of Tayo’s departure from the station, indicated a lack of urgency and accountability.
The High Court held the police responsible for Tayo’s disappearance and ordered further investigation and recommended potential criminal and administrative charges.
The SC ruled that police failed to exercise the extraordinary diligence required by the writ.
It said that the Tayo family did everything they could to coordinate with the police in finding him, making repeated trips to the police station for months and seeking help from other agencies, but they were only given empty reassurances that Tayo’s disappearance was being investigated.
Puerto said that they have been given 60 days to produce any relevant information related to the case and emphasized their efforts to locate Tayo.