
A Murcia resident sought the help of Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Sunday, Nov 26, in the search for the remains of her husband who disappeared six years ago in order for their family to have closure.
The wife, who asked that her name be withheld, informed the mayor on his radio program “Isugid Kay Mayor” aired on FMR Bacolod 91.1 that she only recently discovered that her husband’s body was found by the police six years ago and was tagged as Mr. X.
His remains were turned over to a Bacolod funeral parlor that said it has no records of the Mr. X she was searching for and where the body was buried.
The woman said she last saw her husband who was a former member of the Army on June 17, 2017. Their relationship was not going well so when he did not return immediately it was not unusual for her and her children as he would often disappear for weeks.
However, several weeks after he disappeared she searched for him and a friend said he was seen in Palawan with another family. When he did not return after a year she filed a missing person report with the police in 2018, she said.
On June 18, 2023 her daughter posted on Facebook that she was still looking for her father, and later she was advised to go to Police Station 3 where on October 23 she saw the picture of her husband who had been tagged as Mr. X.
PSSgt Clint Tusalem told the mayor that the body of her husband was found at Buri Road in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod, on June 18, 2017, without stab or bullet wounds.
No autopsy was conducted since no family came forward to claim the body that was tagged as Mr. X, he said.
Mr. X was turned over to Abe Funeral Homes in Bacolod and is believed to have been buried at the Burgos Public Cemetery on September 2017 when no one claimed it, Tusalem said.
However, the funeral parlor spokesperson told the mayor that they have no record of Mr. X and where he was buried.
The wife asked if a death certificate could be issued that her husband had died under such circumstance.
Benitez said he would ask the General Services Office to help in determining where her husband was buried and get to the bottom of what happened.*