‘Drug deal gone wrong’ eyed in deaths of 5 men found in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The remains of five men who were found dead floating along the Rio Grande de Mindanao before New Year have been retrieved by their relatives over the weekend, police here said.

The five men, believed to be victims of summary execution, were fished out of the river on December 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,” Senior Supt. Raul Supeter, city police director, said in a radio interview.

Police believed the five men from Bukidnon were killed by still unidentified men due to an illegal drug deal that went wrong.

Supeter identified four of 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, an ex-soldier from Don Carlos, Bukidnon.

The fifth victim remained unidentified, as of Monday.

Since the remains were in decomposing stage, 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 somewhere in Maguindanao on December 26 and they had no idea why.  SFM