Drum in the river yields dead woman

A woman was found dead inside a plastic drum fished out of the Pasig River in Escolta, Manila, on Friday.

The Manila Police District (MPD) said it was withholding the identity of the victim while an operation was ongoing at press time against the possible perpetrator of the grisly killing. Authorities have also obtained leads as to the motive for the killing but declined to provide details.

The woman was found stripped down to her panties and with her face wrapped in packaging tape, according to Senior Insp. Rommel Anicete, chief of MPD homicide section.

Her body was found in a sealed drum which also contained three rocks that were apparently placed there to keep it underwater.

The rocks were big and heavy enough to sink the drum, the MPD official noted, but it was afloat when spotted around noon by two employees of the Escolta station of the Pasig River ferry service operated by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard were alerted and later got the drum out of the water. Without opening its lid, they already saw through several holes on the drum that there was a body inside.

Anicete said the body’s state of decomposition indicated that it may have been in the water for two or three days.

The body was taken to Saint Rich Funeral Homes in Manila for autopsy.