A TRUSTED worker at a game fowl farm in Sitio Lubres, Barangay Pung-ol Sibugay, Cebu City, was found dead, buried in a sack, on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 27, 2025.
The victim, identified as Jovanie Asir Bonghanoy, 46, was last seen alive on Sunday, Aug. 24, drinking with his coworkers, whom the authorities believed to be the suspects of the crime.
The Malubog Police Station 12 of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) first received a report from a barangay tanod that a body was found in the area.
CCPO Deputy City Director for Operation Lt. Col. Maria Theresa Macatangay said an argument broke out between the victim and the suspects after they became intoxicated.
Macatangay said a witness said one of the suspects threatened to kill the victim.
The authorities have already arrested four suspects, including Alvin Rebonza Torrefiel, 18; Juanito Horolan Jr., 20; a certain alias John, 15; and Jasper Sarcol, 20. Torrefiel, Horolan, and alias John were from Mahanay, Talibon, Bohol, while Sarcol was from Kapitan, Barili.
The primary suspect identified as Jonathan Fortuna Leoligao, is still at large. He reportedly stopped going to work since the victim was missing.
Leoligao was assigned as the gate guard and a temporary gardener for the entire farm.
“We are looking at the possibility that this event, their drinking session, may have been premeditated, that they are already planning to do this because we can see that the companions of our principal suspect volunteered to help in cleaning up the crime,” Macatangay said.
The victim’s coworkers reportedly helped each other bury the body.
Stephen Ricamata, the farm’s manager, said he did not expect the suspects to kill the victim since they were all close.
Ricamata said he had not received any complaints from his workers, who feed more than a thousand gamecocks, chicks, and hens.
He was very worried because the victim was his most trusted worker.
Bonghanoy had worked at the farm for four years and knew how to feed and condition the roosters for derbies.
Police are looking into the suspect’s possible hiding places and they have already coordinated with the Philippine National Police in Bohol to arrest him. / AYB