PUERTO PRINCESA CITY –– The body of 62-year-old local fisherman David Palatolon, who was reported missing in the southern Palawan town of Bataraza on Monday, Feb. 8, was found Wednesday by a search team of local maritime officers.
Refel Palatolon, son of the victim, said in a phone interview on Thursday that he believed his father was attacked by a crocodile, based on the injuries found on the body.
Palatolon, a resident of Sitio Kayas-Kayasan, Barangay Rio Tuba, Bataraza, went missing after going out to spearfish on Feb. 8, near his place.
A report from the Coast Guard District Palawan said the barangay officials and the search-and-rescue team of the 2nd Special Operations Unit-Maritime Group found Palatolon’s body floating on the water near a mangrove area of the town with a broken right leg and wounds on his head and left leg believed to be from a crocodile attack.
Rio Tuba village chief Nelson Acob, in a separate phone interview, said Palatolon was found around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 10 after leaving his home to go spearfishing at 11 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Palatolon’s remains were sent to the neighboring town of Brooke’s Point to undergo an autopsy, Acob added.