CEBU, Philippines — Reward money for information that would lead authorities to the killers of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan is now P1.3 million in total.
Yesterday, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the city will give P1 million to whoever can provide information on the case.
The Cebu provincial government through the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children is also shelling out P200,000.
Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, chairperson of PCWC, said she will pass a resolution at the Provincial Board on Monday to request for the release of the money.
“We (PCWC officers) cannot initiate because Lapu-Lapu is a highly-urbanized city but it is a heinous crime. We want to address the peace and order situation there so we want to do something,” she said.
Earlier, the police said it would give P100,000 as reward.
The Lapu-Lapu Police have said they are investigating three suspects. The National Bureau of Investigation-7 and Commission on Human Rights have also started parallel investigations amid public outcry to determine and arrest the perpetrators.
Christine’s body was found lifeless at a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City early morning on March 11.
An autopsy of her body showed she died of 20 stab wounds with the wound on her neck being the most fatal. The suspects also skinned half of her face.
Medico legal officer Benjamin Lara said stab wounds also grazed her liver and lungs. Wounds on her hands also indicated that Christine may have tried to fight her attacker.
But the suspects did more than these. Lara said they also cut her tongue and hulled out her trachea and esophagus.
Lara said earlier that the way Christine’s face was skinned was “meticulous,” which means it took hours for the suspects to do it and the suspects may have used more than one weapon.
"This is carefully and meticulously done," he said, adding, that Christine was skinned most likely after she died because there was no trace of profuse bleeding.
“I don’t see paano niya nabilisan. Even autopsy, it’s difficult to open the head when we conduct our autopsy and we already have use of our knife and other equipment,” Lara said.
He said it is possible that the suspects skinned the victim’s face so she could not be identified easily.
Lara said it is also possible that animals fed off of Christine, considering the rugged edges of her wounds.
“There is a possibility some animals fed off from her,” he said.
Death Penalty
Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City congressional candidate Junex Doronio said he will lobby for the reinstatement of the death penalty on certain crimes if he gets elected to Congress.
Among the crimes he wants punishable by death penalty include drug and sex child trafficking, rape, murder, massacre, illegal recruitment, and plunder.
And he wants criminals who are found guilty to be sentenced to death through a firing squad.
“How can we strike fear in the minds and hearts of those criminals like those who brutally killed Christine if they know that they would only be meted life sentence and have the chance to be freed by pretending that they have been reformed while in jail?” Doronio said.
He said further that he wants suspects to be tried in a jury system that would pick only responsible and well-respected members of the community who can serve in one trial. — JMO (FREEMAN)