BSP employee found dead inside Manila condo unit

Grand Towers, where a BSP employee was discovered dead in his unit on the 40th story on Monday, July 2, 2012. PHOTO FROM THEGRANDTOWER.NET

MANILA, Philippines—The decomposing body of a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) employee, believed to have been dead for several days, was discovered late Monday afternoon inside his unit on the 40th floor of a condominium building in Manila.

An overpowering stench emanating from the unit of the Grand Towers along Pablo Ocampo Street in Malate led to the discovery of the body of Jorge Cortez, 38, an employee of the BSP’s infrastructure and operations department.

Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan, of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section, said that when condominium security officer Gerald de la China detected the smell of decay coming from within room 4003 of the building at around 3 p.m. on Monday, he forced open the door to the unit and found Cortez’s body.

Cortez was bloated, lying dead on his bed clad only in his underwear. The security officer immediately reported his discovery to the police.

Layugan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that by Cortez’s appearance, he had been dead for at least four days pointing out, “His bodily fluids had already seeped through the mattress.”

A check with the security office log revealed that the BSP employee was last seen arriving at the building on Friday last week.

The case investigator observed that the room was not in disarray and that among the victim’s belongings were maintenance medicines for hypertension.

The victim’s 66-year-old father Jimmy told Layugan that he last saw his son on June 27 when he visited their family home at Binangonan, Rizal, and that the younger Cortez was hospitalized last year after suffering chest pains.

Layugan told the Inquirer that before his death, Cortez had apparently been keeping himself physically fit, noting a mountain bike and several pairs of running shoes inside the victim’s unit.

The case investigator said the body was brought to the St. Yvan funeral parlor for autopsy to determine the cause of death.