Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte divulged yesterday that he ordered the re-arrest of the suspect behind the killing of teenager Christine Silawan.
The 17-year-old suspect was released from the custody of the social welfare department of Lapu-Lapu City, where Silawan was a resident, over the weekend.
Duterte made the announcement at the campaign rally of his party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN) at the South Cotabato Sports Complex in Koronadal City, South Cotabato.
He said: “I called them (prosecutors) the day after [it was announced that they released him]. ‘This is just between us, but if you want this published [you can tell the media]. Recall that order of dismissal and have the guy re-arrested. Because I used to be a prosecutor.'”
Cebu Daily News reported that the suspect was ordered released by the Lapu-Lapu Prosecutors Office on Saturday afternoon after it was found out that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested him without a warrant of arrest. The NBI said, however, that a warrant was not needed because his arrest was part of a hot pursuit or a manhunt.
The president sided with the NBI. “The Supreme Court said that right after the commission of the crime, there is a hot pursuit. That means there will be a chase. That chase is continuous. It’s continuous until you catch [the suspect] and then you file a case,” Duterte said.
Silawan’s half-naked cadaver was found in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu on March 11. The suspect, whom the NBI believe is her ex-boyfriend, was arrested on March 16, according to SunStar Cebu.
“I said, ‘Have him arrested,'” Duterte said. “I will not allow that you will just do that to the person. You had her killed? You’ll skin her to the bone? Then you’ll just escape.”
“It’s impossible that a hot pursuit only takes 24 hours,” the president insisted.
The victim’s cadaver was discovered with her face skinned to the bone, and some internal organs missing. According to an autopsy, there were no signs that Silawan was raped.
As of writing, the authorities have yet to re-arrest the suspect, who moved to a safe house at an undisclosed location after he was released. His lawyer, Vincent Isles, insists that there was no basis for his client’s arrest and that a preliminary investigation should be conducted first instead.
A few theories have emerged to explain Silawan’s gruesome killing. The NBI says that the suspect killed Silawan out of jealousy. They believe that he used a fake Facebook account and pretended to be a new suitor to lure her. They said that based on a CCTV footage they acquired, the two teenagers met near the church where Silawan worked before the killing occurred.
Meanwhile, Police Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, the director of Police Regional Office (PRO) in Central Visayas, said that they are investigating the possibility that Silawan was killed as part of an initiation rite of a local fraternity, reported ABS-CBN News.
A total of PHP1.6 million (US$30,451) has been offered by various groups to anyone who could offer information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of her killing.
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