On December 5 last year, Laurindo Robertson disappeared. He was found dead the next morning in a tunnel of the mining pit where he was working at Marudi in Region Nine.

He died from smoke inhalation, persons who worked with him claimed. His relatives said he was murdered. According to them, his body bore marks of violence on his back and head and there was blood where he was found. They said he had a problem with someone who worked with him. The police never investigated his death properly, they said. “Till up to this date, we are hearing nothing,” a relative said. Robertson was buried at Marudi. He left four children and a pregnant wife behind.

It is not clear how his death has been classified or whether it was even recorded by the authorities. But it added to the rising deaths in …..