Chopped-up limbs belong to Batangas trader, says wife

THE GRISLY find near the Senate on Wednesday EDWIN BACASMAS

A woman from Batangas province showed up at the Pasay City police headquarters on Thursday morning and identified the severed limbs earlier found near the Senate compound to be that of her husband, a businessman who had been missing since Tuesday.

Helen Bacordo, 43, recognized her husband’s body parts based on a scar on the left leg, the police said.

The victim, whose head and torso have yet to be found, was identified as 50-year-old Reymundo Bacordo, who bought and sold cars for a living.

Early Wednesday morning, a street vendor found the victim’s severed legs and arms in a white sack dumped on the traffic median along Diokno Avenue, about 200 meters from the Senate compound gate in Pasay.

Bacordo said she last saw her husband around 11 a.m. on June 7 when he left their house in Rosario, Batangas, to meet a possible client. He left in a gray Mitsubishi Montero with conduction sticker number NH 8368.

The businessman was carrying around P500,000 in cash when he left, said Senior Supt. Joel Doria, the Pasay police chief, quoting the wife.

Raymundo did not return home and was also not replying to her text messages, prompting Helen to seek help from the Rosario police. When a friend told her about the body parts found in Pasay, she went to Veronica Funeral Homes on Libertad Street and confirmed they were those of her husband.

He would usually tell her about any trip to Metro Manila if he had clients to meet in the capital, she told the police.

On June 7, however, he didn’t say anything  about his destination, so she thought he was meeting someone just within their hometown.