Man arrested for killing ex-girlfriend, hiding body

The police declared the disappearance of a woman eight months ago as solved following the discovery and identification of her remains in Valenzuela City Sunday.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Ranier Idio said they also arrested Fernando Manango, 21, for the alleged murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hyrene Iballa, 21, who was reported missing since Jan. 2.

Senior Police Officer 3 Jesus Sagisi said Mananggo admitted killing Iballa “for threatening to file rape charges against him when he refused the victim’s offer to marry her. He didn’t want to marry the victim.”

Sagisi said Iballa’s mother, Beatriz, sought the help of the Valenzuela City police Sunday, claiming they received text messages from Manango’s current girlfriend telling them what happened to her daughter and where her remains could be found.

Beatriz also told the police that it was Manango who was last seen with her daughter before she disappeared.

“The present girlfriend of the suspect is the key to the solution of the mystery behind the eight-month-old case of the missing victim,” Sagisi told The STAR.

The woman, he said, decided to cooperate with the victim’s family because “she was being bothered by her conscience.” 

A team from the Station Investigation and Detective Management Branch and the Police Community Precinct-7 was dispatched to the suspect’s residence in Barangay Punturin, Valenzuela City at around 6 p.m.

The police found a woman’s blouse, a pair of pants and human remains at the bank of a creek near the suspect’s house.

The victim’s mother identified the recovered garments as the clothing worn by her daughter the day she disappeared.

Police immediately arrested the suspect and also recovered from him the victim’s cellular phone.