Police still clueless on Antique ‘salvage’ victim

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

Police have yet to identity the bullet-riddled man who was buried in a shallow grave in San Jose, Antique.

But Lieutenant Arturo Margallo, Jr., San Jose deputy police chief, is optimistic that the man’s identity will be known soon as a family already called and informed them that the body matched their father’s description.

The body was dug out of a grave around 8 am Tuesday at Barangay Funda Dalipe.

Margallo said the grave was around six feet deep with the suspect’s body barely fitting in the hole.

Police were led to the grave after a resident of Funda Dalipe claimed to have heard gunfire around 2 am Tuesday.

It is believed that the man was a victim of summary execution or “salvaging,” a Filipino slang for summary killing.

“We believed that the victim was killed there because there were also blood spatters in the area,” he said.

The resident only reported the incident to village officials at around 6 am.

Margallo said they were subsequently informed 45 minutes later.

He said the victim suffered at least six gunshot injuries on his head and body. His legs were also hogtied.

A woman from Leganes, Iloilo subsequently posted on her Facebook that the victim might be her father.

She mentioned about the letters “HGL” tattooed on the man’s body.

HGL is understood to stand for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” a gang inside the New Bilibid Prison.

Initial information claimed that the body could be that of an alleged drug personality who is a relative of Ernesto “Erning” Bolivar, a fugitive and regarded as Western Visayas’ top drug personality.