Badly decomposed body found in Tabuelan

A portion of the sugarcane plantation in Tabuelan town where an unidentified dead boy was found on a Thursday afternoon, March 25. | Photo from Tabuelan Police Station

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police in the northern Cebu town of Tabuelan are hoping to identify the badly decomposed body found by sugarcane plantation workers on a field in Sitio Guimpilakan in Barangay Kantubaon on Thursday noon, March 25, 2021.

According to Police Staff Sergeant Roland Duran, the investigator on the case, the body was already in an advanced stage of decomposition when it was found, which makes it difficult to identify.

Duran said, though, that they received a call from Emily Juanillo, the village chief of Barangay Odlot in the neighboring Bogo City, about a reported man missing since last February 18. 

Duran said that the barangay captain did not disclose any more information about the missing person and just said that the family will check on the body that was found in Tabuelan themselves.

According to Duran, the dead person was wearing blue long pants and a blue lower garment.

Initial investigation shows that workers from a sugarcane plantation were first alarmed when they started smelling something foul near their area they were working at. When they checked where the smell was coming from, they found a stray dog excavating an area on the field and saw a bone they believed belonged to a human.

These workers quickly informed the barangay and the police station regarding the incident.

Duran said that they don’t have any reports of missing persons in their police station.

As of this posting, the remains are with the Tabuelan Rural Health Unit and expected to be temporarily buried while waiting for any family member to check and verify. The body will also be subjected to a DNA test for victim identification.

/bmjo