Decomposing body of beheaded man found

DUMAGUETE CITY — A corpse of a beheaded man, believed to be a "salvage" victim, was found Tuesday beside the road at sitio Maggay in Barangay Tunga-Tunga of Dauin town in Negros Oriental, around 20 kilometers south of Dumaguete City.

Inspector Rafael Serion, chief of the Dauin Police, told The FREEMAN in a phone interview that the victim, estimated to be in his early 30s, wearing a red shirt and his pants almost removed, was found dead with a gunshot wound in his back and his hands tied.

Residents found the decomposing body due to its stench odor. Police investigators said he might have been dead for three days and the body was ordered buried immediately so as not to affect the health of the people in the area.

So far, police are still facing a blank wall on the incident. Nobody has come forward yet to authorities to file a missing persons report, Serion said.

Because of this, the Dauin Police had issued a flash alarm for missing persons for its neighboring cities and towns, as they believe that the victim may have not been from Dauin and was only dumped there, Serion added.

While they have yet to determine the motive of the killing, the police chief said they are looking at the possibility that the man may have been a "salvage" victim.

Serion added that they have also yet to determine if the victim's killing was election-related, since he was estimated to have been dead before Monday's barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls. Investigations are still going on as of yesterday.

The May 14 local elections in Negros Oriental were "generally peaceful," 303rd Infantry Brigade deputy commanding officer Colonel Inno Pasaporte said, despite the last-minute rise in election hotspots in the province and the threat of private armed groups and New People's Army (NPA) rebels.