Several boys looking for fish bait got the shock of their lives last Sunday morning, July 7, 2024, when they found the decomposing body of an unidentified man under the Panabananon bridge in Caramoran.
According to the report of the Catanduanes Police Provincial Office, Milaviga barangay captain Arlene Beato called the police at 4:35 PM that day to inform that a male cadaver was found hours earlier under the bridge that lies at the boundary of Milaviga and Guiamlong,
Investigation showed at about 9:30 AM, Grade 9 student Reniel Gianan Latoza, 14, together with his friends, was gathering fish bait under the bridge when they noticed a foul smell.
When they searched for the source of the offensive odor, they found the male cadaver in a state of decomposition, with its head wrapped with packing tape and his hands tied at his back with rope.
Residents of Milaviga and Guiamlong told the police that the dead man was not a resident of their barangays.
The rotting body was turned over to the Caramoran Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, which buried the same in the public cemetery in barangay Inalmasinan.
As of press time, there has been no lead as to the identity of the victim, how he died, those responsible and any possible witnesses to the crime.
This is the first unsolved killing in the past two years, with the last the brazen murder of Viga MSWD Officer Carmel Eubra by riding-in-tandem killers in May 2022 during the Abaca Festival.
Eubra was either the 9th or 10th victim of such killers since businessman Larry Que was shot at the back of the head at San Isidro Village while entering a car insurance office on Dec. 19, 2016.
Five of the killings are considered drug-related while three or four have links to the communist insurgency, based on police reports.
Based on the record, the Panabananon victim’s death would remain unsolved, unless someone who participated in the crime gets bothered by his conscience and goes to the police.
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Belated congratulations to the first batch of the 2024 Kapatid Mentor Micro-Entrepreneurship (KMME)-Money Market Encounter (MME) program who finished the mentoring course last June 21, 2024.
Three of them garnered recognition for their Business Improvement Plans: 1st place – Dr. Aliza Valeza of AC Food Hub in Cavinitan, Virac; 2nd place – Arch. Isobelle Caridad Pastor of 2284 Restobar in Sta. Cruz, San Andres; and 3rd place – Jenny Ric Dado of Ben’s Food Products of Gogon Sirangan, Virac.
Dr. Valeza’s BIP got a score high enough to snag the top 3 Regional Achiever Award among the 48 mentees in Bicol.
The other graduates are: Maricar P. Alejandro, owner of M’M Food Products of Concepcion, Virac; Ma. Minda M. Borja, owner of Minoa Food Hub in Gogon Centro, Virac; Jhing F. Cotuna, manager of JD Brooms Manufacturing in Hitoma, Caramoran; Fredlyn F. Teodones, owner of B.A.D.D. Printing Services of Banawang, Bato; and Arnel P. Tubice, manager of Arturo T. Tubice Enterprise in Ilawod Poblacion, Bato.
Another batch of local business entrepreneurs will undergo the same mentoring program soon.
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THE PLUMBER. A lawyer had a leaking faucet in his office bathroom. He got the number of a nearby plumber and called him in.
The plumber arrived, and within five minutes, dismantled and repaired the faucet. Washing his hands, the plumber told the lawyer, “That will be a hundred and fifty dollars.”
“What! Outrageous!” replied the lawyer. “Why, that’s more money than I make in an hour.”
“I know,” the plumber said. “That’s why I quit being a lawyer.”