Rookie cop found dead with gunshot wound on the head

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A rookie policeman was found dead with a gunshot wound on his head in a secluded area in Miag-ao, Iloilo morning of July 20, 2021.

A resident of Barangay Damilisan, Miag-ao discovered the body of Patrolman Marvin del Castillo, a police trainee detailed to the San Joaquin Police Station, around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The 27-year-old del Castillo, who was a resident of Barangay Devera, Sara, Iloilo, was living with his common-law wife at Purok 2, San Joaquin.

Del Castillo was part of the Pre Basic Internal Security Operation Course (BISOC) trainees sent to different police stations in Iloilo province.

Aside from the gunshot injury, no other wound was found on his body.

Captain Marvin Buenavista, Miag-ao police chief, said they could not rule if del Castillo committed suicide.

A PNP-issued caliber .9mm pistol, a bottle of whiskey, and a bottle of mineral water were the only silent witnesses to what happened to the newbie cop.

Buenavista said they also recovered a shell of caliber .9mm ammunition from the scene.

“We saw no signs of struggles in the area but it’s not conclusive that it’s a (case of) suicide. We have yet to know the result of the ballistic and paraffin tests and the autopsy,” he said.

A resident claimed, though, that he saw del Castillo as the latter parked his motorcycle on the roadside around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

He then crossed the road and trudged to a hilly area, which was just several meters from where his body was discovered.

Another resident claimed to have heard a lone gunfire on the night before the incident happened.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dionisio Estacio, San Joaquin police chief, said that he did not notice anything unusual on del Castillo prior to the incident.

“Kaya nga lahat kami dito sa istasyon nagulat sa nangyari sa kanya,” he said.

As to insinuations that the cop could be having some financial problems that might have triggered him to take his own life, Estacio said he had no knowledge about it.

“Mabuti po siguro na tanungin niyo na lang ang live-in partner niya,” he said.

Police investigators have yet to talk to del Castillo’s girlfriend, who might be able to shed light on what happened.

But still, the Miag-ao police are not discounting other motives behind his death.