By GENEVIEVE CANTOR
Correspondent
POLICE uncovered the operations of a crime group that has allegedly managed to whisk off unclaimed corpses from mortuaries here for a scam that literally uses the dead to make a killing.
The crime group has allegedly used the dead to dupe the capitol into releasing aid, organize gambling activities in Misamis Oriental and Iligan city and rake in “tongs” from players with wakes as fronts before the corpses are sold.
Police gave different names of two suspects arrested in Initao town. A police blotter showed the names Ricky Tagoylo Galindo, 29, of Zamboanga, and Sinayda Ubangan Mano, 55, of Mat-i, Naawan, Misamis Oriental.
PO2 Francis Ferdinand Dadole of the Initao police however identified the suspects as Ricky Tagoylo and Zenaida Lopez.
The suspects were arrested on Saturday for allegedly claiming a cadaver from a morgue in the city. The body was brought to a funeral parlor in Initao.
The suspects were brought to Police Station 1 here by Insp. Mohammad Arthur Sakiranle, chief of the Initao police in Misamis Oriental, following their arrest.
Police said there were other suspects who have yet to be arrested.
Investigators said the group’s activities were uncovered after a man went to a mortuary here to claim the body of his dead teenage son only to be informed that the corpse was already taken by another claimant.
The cadaver was allegedly released to one “Ricky Salana” who supposedly claimed that he was a relative of the dead teenager. “Ricky Salana” turned out to be Tagoylo or Galindo.
But police said they were puzzled because the suspect was able to secure a cadaver release certificate which the group used in allegedly securing aid from the capitol through its Misorcares health program.
In an earlier interview, Tagoylo/Galindo said he managed to secure the certificate from a morgue, and he confessed to using the document in order to request burial assistance from the provincial government.
He also admitted that his group has long been using corpses taken from mortuaries in order to collect “tong”from gamblers during wakes in various places in Misamis Oriental and Iligan city. This has been going on for years now, he said.
Mano or Lopez, according to him, took care of the religious rituals during the wakes, including prayers.
He said every wake would last for at least three weeks before the cadavers are sold by as much as P100 thousand each.
But in another interview later in the afternoon yesterday, the suspect recanted, and alleged that he only made up the story to appease the police. (with a report from nitz arancon)
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