ILOILO City – The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) is speeding up the investigation on the slay of two of two elderly found dead in Barangay Botong, Oton, Iloilo, day after Christmas.
Investigators from the PRO-6 are now helping the Oton policemen in probing the death of the still unidentified victims, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson.
The male was in his 70s while the woman could be around 60 years old. They suffered scratches on their body and died from strangulation, an autopsy showed.
Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, provincial police director, said the victims’ bodies were discovered in a house owned by Royce Fantilanan who rented it to a certain Jessie.
The latter allegedly paid his rental fees for the months of November and December.
Neighbors claimed that they have not seen the actual occupants of the house until the incident happened.
According to Gorero, responding cops found seven identification cards (ID) that could have been owned by the man.
These cards are under the name Antonio Cabanatan from Panay, Capiz and Pastor S. Macatimbag with addresses in Samar and Cebu.
They also recovered from the crime scene a fashion ring, a door knob, a live bullet of a .45-caliber pistol, subversive documents belonging to the Communist Party of the Philippines, and a flag of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) Bagong Hukbo ng Bayan.
Gorero said they immediately contacted the local police in the area to check on the identity of the names in the ID cards.
He said the duo’s neighbors even thought that nobody actually lives in Fantilanan’s house.
Meanwhile, Army Major Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) said that if the male victim was indeed Cabanatan, he could be an NPA member.
“Kung babasihan natin ang pangalan na nasa ID na Antonio Cabanatan, sya ay isang miyembro ng NPA butoperating sa national. Wala syang pangalan sa 3ID. We are not concluding na sya talaga ang biktima nag–base lang tayo sa ID,” Pancito said./PN
