Franz Sabalones | CDN FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas is urging the family of self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones, who was reportedly shot dead in Quezon City on April 17, to claim the body for proper identification.
Sinas said they attempted to look for Sabalones’ immediate family members in San Fernando town and even went back to the house of his common-law-wife in Minglanilla town to convince them to identify the body.
Operatives visited a poultry house allegedly owned by Franz and his sister in San Fernando last April 21.
The poultry house was heavily guarded by private security personnel, which made the police suspicious and checked the area.
“It was not an operation. It was only a visit because we heard it was owned by Sabalones and his sister. We were also surprised that there were five security outposts in the area,” said Sinas in Cebuano.
Sinas said they were hoping to find members of Franz’s family in the property.
However, the PRO-7 did not find any of the members of the Sabalones family including his brother, San Fernando Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones, who is currently on terminal leave until June 30.
“We need their confirmation that the body shot in QC (Quezon City) was really Franz Sabalones. We need scientific evidence,” said Sinas.
PRO-7 also went to the home of Franz’s common-law-wife in Minglanilla town but it was found to be occupied by a family unrelated to Sabalones.
He urged the family to identify the body in order put to rest any doubts that the body is not Franz.
The body that was shot on April 17, which was identified to be Franz by a cousin, was found with identification cards beaning the name of “Jerome Cabilao” from Calle Zaragosa Catillo, Talon Dos in Las Piñas City.
No immediate family member has claimed the body and the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) decided to wait for 60 days.
Sixty days is the designated period set by the local government unit to wait for family members to identify and claim an unidentified body.
“That’s why we still cannot confirm if the body belongs to Sabalones,” said Sinas. / celr