• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The owner of the dismembered human body parts left outside the office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Bacolod City last month has already been identified.
NBI-Bacolod chief Renoir Baldovino on Friday, April 12, named the victim as Baltazar Lamata of Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod City.
He was reported missing by his family, prior to the discovery of his body parts.
The dismembered human body parts were placed inside a sack, with a message written: “William de Arca NBI protector ni Hanz Lopez drug lord.”
Baldovino maintained that Arca, an investigator of the NBI, has not been involved in the illegal drugs trade, stressing that the note linking him to illegal drugs could be a diversionary tactic by influential persons behind illegal gambling operations.
Based on their intelligence reports, Lamata was allegedly engaged in the illegal drug trade, he said.
Lamata, who previously applied for a clearance from the NBI, was positively identified through finger matching by the NBI’s Dactyloscopy Division.
Baldovino said that they are exerting their best effort to talk to the family of Lamata, especially his live-in partner, who appeared to be uncooperative, because of threats to them. | GB
