According to a police source, Tabuk policemen who went to Echague to verify the information that unidentified bodies are in a funeral there June 9 said that the bodies were positively identified by relatives as  those of resort-owner Agustin Lingayo,  49, and Jaymar Sumo who is said to be a radio operator  at the Kalinga provincial capitol.

Quoting Echague policemen, the source said, the bodies which bore bullet wounds were found at the dump site there last June 9.

In an interview, Thelma Asuncion, 43, younger sister of Lingayo, said that her brother and Sumo were bound for Bulanao in the morning of last June 5 on board Lingayo’s jeep, and upon reaching  the place in front of the Bulanao Southern Central School at about 9 a.m., their path was blocked by a  red van, forcing Lingayo to step on the breaks.

Four men alighted from the van and  another from the white pickup behind Lingayo and at gunpoint, forced Lingayo and Sumo to come out of the jeep. Then, Lingayo was handcuffed, and both men were  pushed into a waiting van.

Asuncion said that upon learning of the incident, her sister Marcelina Lingayo went to the Kalinga Provincial Police Office. She was told by Provincial Director James Dogao that his office received no information from any law-enforcement agency that the two were arrested.

A tricycle driver who witnessed the incident  had earlier said that the white pickup van is similar to a vehicle being used by an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regional office in Tuguegarao, relatives of the victims proceeded there on the same day.

Asuncion said they were able to talk with Regional Director Jose Limmayog who said there were no people of those names in their custody and that furthermore, they do not operate during weekends.