CHARICE MAE MANCIA, a 23-year-old working student, was killed last Sunday after she was stabbed several times by suspect Emelito Familar.

And all because of a cellphone.

According to the investigation, Mancia walked in on Familar rummaging through her things, which sealed her fate.

It didn’t say whether Familar, who was just released from the Cebu City Jail last August after doing time for theft, was high on drugs. A friend of his had confirmed that the suspect used illegal drugs.

The victim’s aunt, Josephine Antig, still couldn’t believe what happened to her niece. She confronted Familar at the Waterfront Police Station after his arrest in a parked trailer in Mandaue City last Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“Unsa may sala sa akong pag-umangkon nimo (What did she do to you)?” she asked him.

According to the report of SunStar reporter Kevin A. Lagunda, Familar had nothing to say to her, and just covered his head with a towel inside the detention room. If she had her way, Familar would pay with his life for what he did to her niece.

“Lisod kayo ang iyang pagkapatay uy, sobra pa sa baboy (It was brutal the way he killed her). Gihiwa-hiwa (He cut her up several times). Sakit kaayo. Morag kumoton imong dughan magtan-aw ka sa bata (It pained me to see her mutilated body),” Antig said.

The last time I checked, though, there is no death penalty here in the Philippines. The worst that can happen to Familar is to languish in prison for the rest of his life. He will be gang-raped every day there and eventually die of tetanus from an icepick wound inflicted by a fellow inmate.

Oh, who am I kidding? The guy should be quartered for ending Mancia’s life.

I didn’t know her but judging from what I read on the news, the girl was a near saint. She moved to the boarding house in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City so she wouldn’t be late for her classes. Her mother didn’t want her to leave their house, but Mancia said it was for her grades.

The girl was serious about education. Heck, she worked part-time at a pizza joint so she could send one of her siblings to school.

And her life was cut short by Familar. Just like that. Like he was swatting a fly.

No wonder his uncle gave up his whereabouts to police. Apparently, his relatives didn’t want anything to do with him since they all refused to help him when he sought their assistance. His own mother, who asked not to be named, was even grateful to authorities for arresting him.

Which says a lot about Familar’s character.