BACOLOD CITY – A 51-year-old farmer was found dead in a sugarcane field in Sitio Kabangahan, Barangay Mandu-ao, Bayawan City, Negros Oriental on Monday, March 24, six days after he was reportedly abducted in Barangay Tabu, Ilog, Negros Occidental on March 18.
A 51-year-old farmer was found dead in a sugarcane field in Barangay Mandu-ao, Bayawan City, Negros Oriental on Monday, March 24, six days after he was abducted in Barangay Tabu, Ilog, Negros Occidental on March 18. (Photo via Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office)
Police identified the victim as Alberto Balansag, a resident of Barangay Talakdan Proper, Ilog.
Police Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental police, said that the decomposing body of the victim was found in a secluded area.
He added that the victim may have been dumped in the area but not killed there.
A firearm was said to have been found in the crime scene. Polinar said they are probing if it was left there by the perpetrators or owned by the victim.
He said that the Bayawan City Police Station is coordinating with Ilog Municipal Police Station to check the background of the victim and his last activities before he was reported by missing by his family.
Police Major Randy Babor, Ilog police chief, said that the victim’s wife reported to the police station that her husband was abducted by four unidentified persons while they were waiting for a bus on their way home at 6 p.m. in Barangay Tabu on March 18.
The victim’s wife said that the perpetrators forcibly dragged her husband to a car. She asked the help of netizens to look for her husband until his body was found.
Babor said the victim had no police record.
He said the Bayawan City Police Station went to Ilog on Tuesday, March 25, to report the discovery of the victim’s body.
Investigation is ongoing.