Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 Director Brigadier General Leo Francisco has ordered the Talisay City Police Station and Bacolod City Police Station 7 to jointly focus on the investigation and identify the suspects behind the beheading of an alleged pimp over in Talisay City the weekend.
Major Grace Borio, spokesperson of PRO-6, said that Francisco is expecting to have positive results as to the case and file the necessary charges against the identified suspects.
“As of press time, there was no order to create a joint Special Investigative Task Group, but if in a period they cannot satisfy the expectation to solve the case, the region might also send augmentation investigators,” she said.
Borio added that there was no time frame given as long as the case is solved and justice is served to the victim and his family.
The headless body of Mario Demetrio, 48, of Purok Sigay Magsungay at Barangay Singcang-Airport in Bacolod City, was found at the remote area of Barangay Zone 16 in the northern Negros Occidental city about 10 p.m. Saturday, September 17.
His severed head with a suspected gunshot wound was also recovered a few meters away from his body at Hacienda Sagrado 2.
Demetrio reportedly introduced a commercial sex worker to a customer at the Goldenfield Commercial Complex on September 7, 2022 who was found dead in Barangay Alijis the following day with fatal wounds on her face and neck.
For his part, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) spokesperson Lt. Judesess Catalogo said that it would be advantageous for them if the PRO-6 will send a team to the province to augment the investigation in Demetrio’s beheading.
“If we will find out during the investigation that he was killed in Bacolod then we will return the case to Bacolod,” Catalogo said, adding that Talisay City Police Station is now coordinating with Bacolod City Police Station 7 for the case buildup.
He noted that the Scene of the Crime Operations already said that Demetrio’s body was only dumped in Talisay but he was killed somewhere else.
Aside from the angle that Demterio’s killing is related to the death of the commercial sex worker, Catalogo said, they are also looking into other possible motives.
The Nocppo spokesperson admitted that the challenge that the Talisay City Police Station is facing is the fact that there are no witnesses.