Butchered body found in Caloocan identified

MANILA, Philippines - Police were able to identify yesterday the man whose torso was dumped behind a barangay hall in Caloocan City Friday morning.

Chief Inspector Ronald Perilla, Caloocan City police Substation 5 commander, said the torso, wrapped in garbage bags, was that of Romeo Tiles, 34, a barangay tanod of Barangay Commonwealth in Quezon City.

The victim’s wife, Ruth, saw the news on television and “came to the station,” Perilla said. She identified him through the underwear he wore and the remaining parts of the tattoos on his chest and back. His killers had tried to erase them by scraping his skin, Perilla said.

Perilla said Tiles’ head, legs and arms were “cut clean.” The body parts remain missing.

Senior Police Officer 1 Allan Budios said Tiles, a member of the Commando Gang, left their house in Commonwealth at around 4 p.m. Thursday to look for money for his sick child but never returned.

The victim’s relatives only learned of his fate through the media, Budios said. 

Moneth Figueroa, a teacher of Urduja High School, found Tiles’ torso at around 6:20 a.m. in a canal behind the barangay hall of Barangay 172 in Camarin.

Beside the body was a cardboard with a message, “Mabuhay ang Tau Gamma. Hindi mo kaya si Makaw (Long live Tau Gamma. You can’t take on Makaw).”

Budios said they know who Makaw is and where he lives. He said Makaw, a former soldier, is the local founder of a Tau Gamma Phi fraternity in a barangay in Quezon City.

Budios said they recovered similar garbage bags used in wrapping Tiles’ torso at Makaw’s house but the suspect was not in the area.

Budios said that they are looking at revenge as a possible motive as Makaw’s family said Tiles was one of the suspects in the killing of their relative in March 2011.