MANILA, Philippines — The decomposing body of a 49-year-old call center agent was found on All Souls’ Day by relatives who went to his house in Quezon City to convince him to accompany them to the cemetery.
Godofredo Arcega Jr. was lying in bed when he was discovered and the police initially said he might have died of natural causes although this would have to be confirmed by an autopsy.
Police Officer 3 Erickson Isidro of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit observed that Arcega might have been dead for at least two days based on the condition of his body.
Isidro said that at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Arcega’s brother-in-law, Jun Arthur Bravo, and his son went to the victim’s apartment on Montreal Street, Barangay (village) E. Rodriguez in Cubao, to ask him to accompany them to the cemetery.
When Arcega failed to answer his cell phone or come to the door despite their repeated knocks, Bravo asked his son James to peek through the window of his uncle’s room to see if he was home. James then climbed up the fire exit ladder and told his father he could see his uncle lying in bed.
Bravo immediately forced open the door to the apartment. He found the call center agent’s decomposing body and immediately called the police.
According to the case investigator, the body bore no signs of external injury and an autopsy must be conducted to determine the cause of Arcega’s death.