Relatives collect bodies of 5 men fished out of river

COTABATO CITY—The bodies of five men, which were found floating along the Rio Grande de Mindanao before New Year, have been retrieved by their relatives, according to police.

The five men, believed to be victims of summary execution, were fished out of the river on Dec. 31. They were believed to have been killed in the upstream town of Kabuntalan in Maguindanao.

“They were executed somewhere in Maguindanao and were fished out in the Cotabato City side of the river,” said Senior Supt. Raul Supeter, city police director, in an interview aired by a radio station here.

Police believe the five men were executed in a drug deal gone wrong.

Supeter identified the victims through their relatives as Raul Cervantes, 40, and Noel Soriano Rolos, 32, both farmers from Dangcagan, Bukidnon; Nolan Clark Chan Tero, 30, driver from Barangay Poblacion, Damulog, Bukidnon; and Adonis Robles, 40, a former soldier from Don Carlos, Bukidnon. The fifth victim remained unidentified.

Since the bodies were in a state of decomposition, police and the local government buried them at a public cemetery here.

On Sunday, the remains were exhumed and brought to Bukidnon by relatives.

Relatives told police the five men went to Maguindanao on Dec. 26 for a still unknown purpose. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao