Tortured boy's body fished off Bantayan

The body of the 11-year-old boy who was tortured, placed in a sack then thrown into a river was found by a fisherman in the seawaters off Lapayran islet in Bantayan Island last Sunday morning.

Eduardo Jamile, a fisherman of the said place recovered the dead body of Al Quirante Miano placed in a sack tied with a black wire near Cansanting Coral Reef, two kilometers from the shoreline of the islet.

Liza Rivera of the municipal health office described the body as male, about 10 to 15 years old and four feet tall.

Bantayan police chief, Insp. Ramon Amistoso said that based on the description, the body matched the reported missing boy in the municipality of Asturias.

But Rivera recommended the immediate burial of the body at the municipal cemetery because it was already in an advanced state of decomposition and the stench may pose harm to the residents.

The Bantayan police immediately informed the Asturias police to tell the family of Miano to identify the body.

As of press time, Miano's family has yet to reach Bantayan Island while the police are waiting for them so they can exhume the body.

But in a report to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu Police Provincial Office director, S/Supt. Vicente Loot, already confirmed that the body was that of Miano.

Cebu provincial prosecutor Jane Petralba yesterday said the kidnapping with homicide case were already filed before Toledo RTC after finding probable cause against the 17-year-old suspect who admitted to torturing the boy after he took P70 from him.

Asturias police filed the case last Saturday through an inquest proceeding before Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office. No bail has been recommended against the suspect, Petralba said.

Meanwhile, Governor Gwrendolyn Garcia has promised to give P5,000 to the Miano family as she visits Asturias today for a medical mission and to give PhilHealth insurance to the residents of the town.

This is to be her first visit there considering that its town Mayor Letty Orosco is reportedly uncooperative and she just heeded the call of the barangay captains to extend the assistance to their constituents - Gregg Rubio, Flor Z. Perolina and Ramil V. Ayuman