Thursday, May 08, 2008 2 ‘robbers’ die in fall from cliff
THREE men accused of attempting to rob a van-for-hire bound for Toledo City fell down a cliff in a hilly village of Talisay City last May 1. Only one survived the fall.
The driver of the motorcycle they used is still at large.
The decaying cadavers of two of the men were found separately at the bottom of a cliff in a hilly village of Talisay City last Tuesday and yesterday morning.
Funeral homes crew, supported by eight tanods, had to carry the body of Roger Ocariza Jr. after he was spotted past 5 p.m. Tuesday in barangay Manipis, about 10 kilometers from the national highway.
Barangay Captain Joselito Laurente said Ocariza’s body was found lying with his head already severed at the bottom of a cliff about 80 meters down the provincial road.
Decomposing
He was wearing a baseball cap, red and white shirt topped with a green sweatshirt and khaki denim pants.
Laurente said the salvage team braved the strong stench and took two hours pulling up the decomposing corpse.
The body of Eleuterio Nacario, who was in his mid 30s, was also found some 10 meters below that of Ocariza’s yesterday morning.
Nacario’s body was also already decomposing.
Laurente said the two, both of Barangay Bonbon, Cebu City, and a certain Felix Sacamay were reportedly behind the robbery attempt on a Toledo City-bound van-for-hire last May 1.
SPO2 Marlon Reyes, Talisay City police station desk officer, said the homicide team learned of Ocariza’s death after Sacamay turned himself in to authorities in Cebu City.
On board a red motorcycle-for-hire, the three reportedly blocked the vehicle around 9 p.m. and fired at it thrice after van driver Onie Prajes refused to stop. They hit one of its tires.
Alert
Their fourth companion, the habal-habal driver, remains at large.
Running on a busted tire, the van finally pulled over at a residential area in Sitio Telepono, where Laurente also lives.
Laurente said he alerted the police and set up a roadblock. Five empty shells and two slugs of a .45 pistol were reportedly recovered at the crime scene.
The suspects, however, reportedly sped off downhill towards the neighboring barangay of Jaclupan.
Laurente learned that the three tumbled down the cliff in Sitio Pandayan, Manipis after their motorcycle encountered a Toledo-bound cargo truck.
Tree branches hindered their fall and these are also believed to have severed Ocariza’s head.
Laurente said the unidentified habal-habal driver took a rough road towards Bonbon.
Sacamay survived the fall and surrendered to barangay authorities two days later.
Manipis officials thought their work was over after they pulled out the body of Ocariza past 7 p.m. last Tuesday.
Laurente said they learned of the second cadaver after the brothers of the two victims showed up around 7 a.m. yesterday.
Again, tanods assisted the funeral service team in retrieving Nacario’s body, which was wrapped in plastic.
The corpse was finally taken to St. Francis Funeral Homes at noontime. (GC)
