The body of a man was set on fire at a subdivision in Barangay Ungka in Pavia, Iloilo.

A resident, Romulo Parcon, saw something burning near the fence of the subdivision while he walking in his garden.

“Pagkakita ko na merong apoy, tumakbo ako, pumunta ako dito, sa mga bata. Sabi ko may apoy sa kabila,” Parcon said.

For fear that the fire would spread, he informed his family and relatives immediately about it. When he and his sibling and nephew approached the area, they found out it was a body of a man that was burning.

“Nang nakita kong wala nang apoy, sabi ko, oh, tao naman itong nakita ko. Nakatagilid siya, maitim na ang katawan. Hindi ko naman nagalaw,” Parcon said.

The police recovered personal items from the area, including a national ID of a resident of Roxas City in Capiz.

A source told GMA Regional TV One Western Visayas that a family had gone to the police station and reportedly confirmed that the items recovered from the site of the incident were owned by the person identified in the ID card.

INVESTIGATION

According to Capt. Ritz Field Presquito, chief of the Pavia Municipal Police Station, it is possible that the man was killed also at the subdivision.

“Posible, sir, na sa loob lang ng subdivision (pinatay) kasi kung patay na, siguradong mabibigatan sila,” he said.

But the police are not discounting the possibility that the man was killed elsewhere and was brought to the subdivision and set on fire there.

It is also possible that the crime was carried out by two people.

The police learned from the funeral parlor that the body smelled of gasoline.

As of this writing, the police are working on accessing the victim’s mobile phone to harvest information that may help in the investigation.

IDENTITY

Meanwhile, to confirm the identity of the deceased, authorities will compare specimens from the body with DNA samples from the mother of a 22-year-old man identified in the ID card recovered from the scene.

It is suspected that the body that was set on fire is that of Frank Rois Barbasa, a graduating nursing student of a university in Iloilo City.

He reportedly left the housing he was staying at in Caingin, La Paz on April 28, 2026 and has been missing since.

“So, ang sa DNA resulta natin, magdedepende sa SOCO kung kailan na sila makapadala sa national (headquarters),” Presquito said.