Police to look into case of fisherman who ‘drowned’ in Argao
CEBU CITY, Philippines —Police in Argao town, in southern Cebu said they will look into the ‘accidental drowning’ case of a fisherman, who was found dead off the waters in Barangay Casay on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
Police identified the victim as Robinson Hoylar, 41 years old from the same barangay.
His body was recovered by personnel from the Argao Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) after he was reported missing by another fisherman, Ramonito Lumayag.
According to Police Major Jeremie Shiela Gurtiza, chief of the Argao Police Station, although it looks like an accident, they will still investigate the incident in order to find out if there was no foul play involved.
“Naa mi gi-schedule nga case con tomorrow (March 23) aron mahibaw-an ba gyud og tinuoray ba nga accident,” said Gurtiza.
(We have a scheduled case conference tomorrow to find out if this is truly just an accident.)
Initial reports show that the victim died after a rope he used to tie himself to a floater got entangled around his neck while he was underwater.
“Suma sa nakakita ni Lumayag, ingun sya nga nasangit kuno sa ilawom ang rope maong wala sya nakasurface sa ibabaw,” the police chief said.
(According to Lumayag, the rope got stuck underwater and that’s why the body [of the victim] didn’t surface.)
But police are confused about something.
“Dili mi ka picture out nga giunsa siya nga pag surface niya na entangle man sa iyang li-og,” Gurtiza said.
(We can’t picture out how his body surfaced if his neck got entangled with the rope.)
This is what the police would try to find out in the case conference.
An initial background check on the victim revealed that he was once mentally challenged.
But the chief of police said that relatives and neighbors of the victim said Hoylar was a decent person and had no known enemies.
Gurtiza also clarified that the victim was not under the influence of alcohol when he was found. He went offshore early in the morning and the incident was reported around 8 a.m.
Gurtiza said on a phone interview with CDN Digital that they only knew about the incident when a relative of the victim went to the station at around 2 p.m. on the same day to ask for a police report as a requirement for embalming services.
Read: Missing chief engineer found dead in Argao waters
/bmjo
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