Missing journalist found dead in Davao Oriental

A journalist who has been missing since last week was found dead in Davao Oriental province late Tuesday, police said. The bloated body of Satur Apoyon, 75, was found on the shoreline of Tibanban in Governor Generoso town, the Mindanao Daily Mirror reported Wednesday. Apoyon, the former head of the Davao bureau of state-run Philippine News Agency, had been missing since May 19. Governor Generoso police said Apoyon, who was reported missing Thursday last week, may have been dead and floating in the sea for a few days. The report said Apoyon's friends and relatives were puzzled and could not explain how he reached Governor Generoso, which is more than 150 km away from Davao City. He left his house at SM Village in Bangkal, Davao City at 5 a.m. Thursday for an early morning walk around the village, but failed to return home. Rose Palacio, a retired employee of the Philippine Information Agency, said she saw Apoyon at 6 p.m. on the same day near Victoria Plaza in Bajada. At the time, Palacio said Apoyon was wearing a purple polo shirt, shorts, and rubber sandals. The report said some of his friends speculated Apoyon may have been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but his widow Annie said the former newsman had not shown any sign of the ailment prior to his disappearance. Apoyon, a native of Maribojoc in Bohol, arrived in Davao City in the early 1960s and settled there. — LBG, GMA News