The Open Coffin: Prelude to Murder

CHAPTER 7

                It's now April 22, 2082, 19 days before the national and local elections. Glenn Buencamino's campaign was in full swing. Julian Casimero's brother, Ariston, substituted the late Julian as the candidate for congressman for the fifth district of Pangasinan. This was in accordance to the Commission on Elections rule which stated that a candidate could be substituted by a qualified immediate member of the family just in case the candidate withdraws his candidacy for health reason, or the candidate dies. Thus, Ariston Casimero became Glenn's opponent. Although Ariston was not as popular as his deceased brother, Glenn did not want to take any chances. He must continue his campaign effort. The killing of Julian Casimero might evoke sympathy from the voters, and Glenn feared that this might swing the votes to Ariston's favor. He knew the psychology of the Filipino voters: they usually side with the aggrieved party, and Julian was the aggrieved one—the victim. While it was true that he denied any knowledge of Julian's murder, and it was backed up by no less than Villasis Police Detective Homer Almendares, there might be people out there, especially Casimero's supporters, who could not be convinced. Hence, the imperative of intensive campaign.

This worried Myra a lot. She was afraid that the killers of Julian Casimero were out there, waiting for the best opportunity to strike. Many times she warned Glenn to lay low for a while for his safety, but Glenn was persistent to go all out in his campaign. To ease his wife's apprehension, he hired more bodyguards to provide him airtight security. Every campaign venue was thoroughly check, and every corner of the venue was tightly secured. Thus, Glenn was assured of complete protection, and that was costly.

"See, my back, my front and my sides are totally covered, so there's no need for you to worry," he assured his wife.

Of course, there were times that Myra could not help but to worry. The least that the could do was to pray for her husband's safety. That she did all the time that Glenn was away.

Meanwhile, Homer made a list of funeral parlors operating in Alcala, Villasis, and Urdaneta. He had the suspicion that one or two of them might have been the ones from whom the killers, or masterminds in the killing of Julian Casimero. So far there were three in Alcala: Funeraria Gloria, Ilagan Funeral Homes and Good Heavens Funeral Services. There were also three in Villasis, namely: Funeraria Escobar, Saint John Funeral Services and Holy Spirit Memorial Homes. The City of Urdaneta had six: the Rest in Peace Funeral Homes, Funeraria Cruz, Funeraria Santa Rita, Safe Haven, Urdaneta Funeral Services, and Villaluz Funeral Homes. Homer took note of their contact numbers and their addresses.

Casimero was murdered in April 12 three days after a coffin was delivered to his residence. So the deliveries of Casimero's and Buencamino's coffins must have been made in April 9. Which means that the coffins could have been ordered a day or two before April 9. He decided to see Holy Spirit Memorial Homes since it was the nearest to the Villasis PNP Headquarters. He drove his car to the said funeral parlor located along MacArthur Highway. He was lucky to find the manager of the funeral parlor, a man named Jaime Ventura.

"How I may help you Detective?" he asked when Homer was seated in front of his desk.

"I just want to know if someone made an order of coffin or coffins on April 7 or 8," Homer asked.

"Well, let me check the records," Ventura replied. He took from his desk's drawer a blue book and scan the pages until he located the date April 7, 2082. The record showed that there were two coffins delivered. One was delivered in Barangay Puelay, and the other in Barangay Amamperez. On April 7, 2082, the funeral parlor provided funeral services to a certain Damiana Capistrano, who died of accident. She was from Barangay Bacag.