Valladolid Mayor Rommel Yogore said yesterday there is no cultist group in his town.

The possible involvement of a cultist group in the desecration of a cadaver in Valladolid is among the angles being explored by the police.

The headless corpse of Alberto Pelicano, 58, whose left arm and leg were also cut off, was found in a creek Sunday, several meters away from the Valladolid public cemetery where he was buried on June 30.

Yogore ordered the Valladolid police to conduct a clearing operation at the cemetery, as the head, arm and leg of Pelicano could still be hidden in the area.

Police investigation showed that the corpse was taken out of its coffin by the suspects, who also destroyed the burial niche, a day after Pelicano was buried.

While admitting that it was an unusual case, Yogore told ABS-CBN that the people of Valladolid should not be alarmed by the incident.

He also raised the possibility that the missing limbs may have been sold to medical schools.

Senior Insp. Anthony Burgos, Valladolid police chief, said they are still clueless on the motive for the desecration of the corpse, as Pelicano, who had been bedridden for months due to tuberculosis, had no known enemy in his barangay.

In previous years, incidents of stolen knee caps from graveyards in Valladolid and Bago City, that were allegedly used as amulets by cultists, had also been reported.*GPB

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