A retired budget officer of Tudela town, Camotes Island, was found dead with his body stuffed in a traveling bag, Sunday.
Police said 74-year-old Felipe Montero Baring, single, died from multiple hack wounds on his head and arms.
Baring’s body was found by a carpenter who was reportedly hired by the retired government official to do some work on his house.
Baring lived in the mountains of Sitio Cabangcalan, Barangay Villahermosa, some two kilometers away from the Tudela town proper.
According to Chief Inspector Leo Ty, head of the Tudela police station, the carpenter identified as Welmar Urbita claimed that he discovered Baring’s dead body at around 4 p.m. or four hours after he first went to the victim’s house to do some work at around 12 noon.
Urbita told police that when he got to Baring’s house, he wondered why it was too quiet and the retired official was nowhere to be found.
Urbita said he nontheless entered the victim’s house through a sliding door and worked on the project.
Urbita further told police that as soon as he got home, he asked his wife to accompany him back to Baring’s house because he was worried about the latter’s whereabouts.
As the couple checked Baring’s house, they were stunned to discover his body inside a traveling bag in one of the rooms. Baring’s mouth was stuffed with a piece of cloth.
Tudela police investigation showed that the town’s former budget officer was engaged in lending although he never kept money inside his home.
Chief Insp. Ty said that they will invite Urbita for further questioning as police found no forcible entry into the victim’s house. Except for a spot of blood seen on the floor, Baring’s things were also in proper order.