BACOLOD City – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) central office created a task force to investigate the incident of mutilated body parts found outside its Bacolod City office.
The agency has recently identified the owner of the dismembered body parts recovered last Friday, March 1.
NBI-Bacolod head Atty. Renoir said the task force, composed of lead investigators and agents from Luzon, will handle the case.
He is currently unable to say when they will begin operations.
On Tuesday, Baldovino confirmed that the victim was a resident of Bacolod City and a drug suspect.
“It looks like he was involved in illegal drugs based on the reports that were given to us,” the NBI official said.
Baldovino, however, refused to disclose a name.
He said they were able to establish the mutilation victim’s identity through fingerprints. He further revealed that he is currently in Metro Manila to verify with their technical division about the examination of the body parts.
The mutilated body parts – which included a left hand, a left leg, and a pair of ears – with a message, “William De Arca NBI Protector ni Hanz Lopez Drug Lord,” were found outside the NBI Bacolod office along Aguinaldo Street in Barangay 4.
They were discovered by a job-order employee of the NBI.
According to Baldovino, it was an attempt to scare and discredit them, as the local NBI office is very active in their campaign against illegal gambling operators in Negros Occidental.
Meanwhile, the agency is also being hounded as to why their office’s close circuit television (CCTV) cameras were turned off around the time the body parts were left.
Bacolod Police Station 2 chief Captain Glenn Montaño, in an interview with Aksyon Radyo Bacolod, disclosed that the last CCTV footage was taken at 7 p.m. on February 29. Its next recording started past 7 a.m. on March 1, the day of the grim discovery.
In response, Baldovino stated that it was a mere coincidence.
Montaño said he will again coordinate with the NBI on this and will also have the CCTV footage from nearby establishments checked.
In light of the incident, the NBI has strengthened security on its premises.
To recall, several mutilated body parts were recovered in this city, most of which have attached notes alleging a person’s involvement in illegal drugs. Some of these incidents include last year’s mutilated hands found in Barangay on January 25, a pair of feet in Barangay Villamonte on March 29, and the severed right hand found in Barangay Bata on April 17. All of which were from still-unidentified persons. (Watchmen Daily Journal)/PN
