“Chop-chop” victims or those murdered then cut into pieces are old news in the Philippines but this recent story took a turn when the woman thought to have been dead turned up alive.
The saga all started Sunday morning when waste collectors from Davao City found chopped up body parts inside a plastic bag which they immediately brought to a funeral home, ABS-CBN News reported.
The Albarico family claimed that the body parts belonged to their daughter, 31-year-old Margie Albarico, who they said was deaf-mute and had special needs. Margie had gone missing on Thursday.
Sopriano Albarico, Margie’s father, told ABS-CBN News that he thought the body was his daughter’s because they had a similar face shape.
“When identifying her, I was only focused on the face,” he said in Visayan.
The family was sure it was her but come Monday night, authorities from the ComVal police station notified barangay (village) Buhangin police that an unknown woman had been spotted in the area, who turned out to be Margie.
However, the identity behind the chopped up body parts remains a mystery.
On Monday, someone also found a piece of a person’s leg outside a gated community, also in Buhangin. It will undergo an autopsy to help authorities determine the victim’s identity.
GMA News’ Balita Pilipinas also reported that the police plans to look into CCTV footage from the area where the body parts were found.
“Chop-chop” victims are not uncommon in the Philippines. In fact, there was even a true-crime movie from the 90s about one of the more high-profile cases. More recently in March, a woman in Quezon City was killed and chopped up into pieces by her own husband.
