Owner of farm where Palparan hid found dead

Jovito Palparan Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

BONGABON, Nueva Ecija—The owner of a farm where fugitive Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan reportedly hid in January was found dead in a river in Barangay (village)Labi here on Monday.

Police said the body of Wilbur Barillo, 48, a former Army sergeant and owner of a banana plantation in Barangay Pesa here, was found along with that of farm caretaker Danny Nanep.

They had bullet wounds and their bodies were already decaying when found by a fisherman near the banks of the Labi River at 3 p.m. on Monday. The area where the bodies were found was more than five kilometers from the Barillo’s farm in Barangay Pesa.

Chief Insp. Jonathan Alayan, town police chief, said Barillo’s feet were tied with packaging tape while his hands were bound by a piece of cloth. Nanep, he said, was handcuffed.

Alayan said the victims were found two days after suspected robbers destroyed the farm’s wire gate and entered a farm house on Saturday night. The robbers, he said, took out the battery and wheels of Barillo’s van.

While policemen and Nanep’s relatives declined to confirm it, residents here said Barillo’s farm was raided by National Bureau of Investigation agents in January on suspicion that Palparan was hiding there.

The agents failed to find Palparan in the farm. The former general is being hunted by authorities for his alleged involvement in the 2006 kidnapping of two University of the Philippines students.