ORMOC CITY – The body of a man discovered in an upland of this city on the afternoon of March 7, 2024, was identified by his common-law wife who came to claim his remains at the funeral parlor.
Presidio Saguiped, 46, was found buried in a shallow grave within a sugarcane plantation in Barangay Patag by Master Sergeant Mercado, a member of the 802nd Brigade Philippine Army, who then reported the discovery to village chairman Gilbert Pilapil, stated Police Station 6 officer-in-charge Police Captain Jefferson Barrios.
Saguiped’s head was wrapped in cloth, with a tie wire encircling his neck. He had been reported missing by his family two days earlier when he failed to return home.
A post-mortem examination confirmed his cause of death as asphyxiation. The City Forensic Unit found no evidence of gunshot or stab wounds.
Authorities are investigating whether Saguiped was killed at the scene or if his body was transported there after his death.
Saguiped had previously been detained at the Ormoc City jail for illegal drug offenses following his arrest in a buy-bust operation in July 2015 at his residence in Brgy. Valencia, Ormoc City, by the Regional Anti-Illegal Drug Operations Task Group. He was released from prison in 2022 under a plea-bargaining agreement.
According to Mercado’s account, Barrios stated that the Army had received reports of sightings of suspected members of a leftist group in the area. This group was believed to be the same one the Army had encountered the previous night in the hinterlands of nearby Albuera town, prompting Mercado’s patrol. It was during this patrol that he discovered Saguiped’s partially buried body.
“Although I am not concluding that he was involved in drug-related activities at the time of his death, as we are still conducting further investigation,” Barrios said.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
