Police in Capiz face blank wall in slay of woman

CEBU, Philippines - Police are still facing a blank wall on the circumstances surrounding the brutal killing of a woman in Barangay Concencia, Panit-an, Capiz.

As of yesterday, Panit-an police chief Insp. Francisco Paguia said the woman’s identity remains unknown.

Two families have checked on the woman but failed to identify the body.

Paguia said they have not also received reports of a missing woman the past weeks.

“It’s highly possible that she’s not from Panit-an,” he added.

The woman’s body was found at around 5:30 a.m. at a secluded area in a sugarcane plantation in Concencia village. Gunshot wounds were found on the head and other parts of the body.

The victim, estimated to be around 20 years old, was wearing a green blouse, a pair of jeans and a jacket. The body was found by one Ricardo Aguilar, a resident of the said village. The spot was about 500 meters from the nearest house.

Prior to the incident, residents saw a woman and two men got inside the sugarcane plantation. Shortly later, a burst of gunfire was heard.

Several minutes after, a certain Sherlita Daliva claimed to have seen two men wearing bonnets come out of the plantation and board a motorcycle parked at the side of the feeder road.

Police recovered two slugs of a caliber .45 pistol and three empty shells of a caliber .9mm pistol.

While rape might be a remote possibility, Paguia said they are looking at illegal drugs and financial debt as possible motives of the killing.