Scrap gatherer arrested for murder

CEBU, Philippines - A man allegedly responsible for the killing of a tattooed man who was brutally killed and thrown into a river in sitio Kalinaw-San Rafael, barangay Tanke, Talisay City, last Monday morning was arrested yesterday afternoon.

PO3 Mikie Espina and PO2 Stephen Sefuesca of the Talisay City Police Station arrested Erlindo Pelayo, 40, of sitio Kalinaw-San Rafael, barangay Tanke while he was gathering recyclable bits and pieces with his common-law wife at a dumpsite in sitio White Road, barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Espina and Sefuesca were acting on information received by the station from alleged witness to the crime, who reportedly pointed to Pelayo as the perpetrator of the killing.

Espina said the suspect did not resist when picked up yesterday at the dumpsite, and that he even allegedly owned up to the crime.

Apart from collecting scrap materials from the nearby dumpsite, Amy Deberpe, 41, the suspect’s common-law wife, said they also keep fish traps near their house, which is situated in the offshore area of sitio Kalinaw-San Rafael.

Deberpe said that at 1 a.m. of Monday, they reportedly saw the man entering one of their four fish traps and was allegedly trying to catch the trapped fish there, which prompted them to ask him to leave. The man however reportedly did not heed to their call, and instead, he went to the next fish trap, and allegedly broke the bamboo fencing, which then irked Pelayo.

Deberpe said her partner reportedly went to where the intruder was, but she did not know what transpired next, as she already ran away from their house because of fear.

She however said that her partner had reportedly admitted to her that he had attempted to kill the stranger, by hacking him.

Pelayo reportedly left the body of the victim inside one of the fish traps, but it was possibly washed away by big waves hours later.

It was at around 7 a.m. that same day when fisherman Warlito Traso discovered the body of the stranger floating in the river.

The victim’s left arm was tattooed with the word “PAL,” had his right arm was severed, and his neck slashed, that his head had almost fallen off.

His ears were also cut off, and his head and right leg sustained three hack wounds.

He was believed to be between the age of 50 and 60 years old, with fair complexion, and 5’2” tall.

The suspect is now detained at the Talisay City detention cell in barangay Lawaan I, while waiting for the murder charge to be filed against him.

Meanwhile, the victim, who was still unidentified as of press time, is still in St. Francis Funeral Homes in barangay Bulacao, waiting for his family to claim him. – Liv G. Campo   (FREEMAN NEWS)