LINAMON, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews / 22 January) – The fisherman who left his home for fishing around 8 p.m. Wednesday and reported missing for two days was found dead along the wharf of Tubod, the capital town of Lanao del Norte.
He was identified as Celestino Restauro, a resident Purok 4 near Rufo dela Cruz Integrated School of Poblacion Tubod.
Initial information from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office described the fisherman as wearing a red t-shirt and black leggings.
The recovery of his blue-painted motorized boat was relayed through radio message from Ozamiz City to Tubod.
The message said the vessel with fishnet had drifted to the coastal village of El Triunfo in Ozamiz on January 21 without a person onboard. It was turned over to authorities in Tubod.
The MDRRMO earlier reported that upon receiving the information on Wednesday evening Tubod Mayor Leoncio Bagol ordered them to launch a joint search and rescue operation with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, Maritime Police and the Philippine Coast Guard Station in Tubod.
In a phone interview, Petty Officer II Roger Guiam, in-charge of PCG Tubod told MindaNews the victim’s relatives asked for their assistance to retrieve the body, which was found about 100 meters away from their station.
Guiam said the corpse was floating without the t-shirt, although the leggings were still on it.
He said they retrieved the body in the presence of the search party and relatives and brought it to a funeral parlor.
Vicmar Paloma, MDRRMO chief said a medicolegal who examined the body at the funeral parlor found that it was already decomposing.
“The local government unit will shoulder the funeral expenses,” Paloma added. (Richel V. Umel/MindaNews)