PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has instructed the Cebu police to conduct an investigation on the murder of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, MalacaƱang said on Thursday, March 14.
"May directive na siya (Duterte) to investigate... Pinapa-imbestigahan kung anong nangyari (He already has directive to investigate... He wants to investigate what happened," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press conference.
Duterte on Wednesday, March 13, expressed outrage over the killing of Silawan, who was found dead in a vacant lot in Bankal village in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
Silawan was found naked from the waist down and skinned to the skull.
Authorities later found out that the killers also took out the anterior part of Silawan's neck and extracted her trachea, tongue, esophagus, right neck muscle, and right ear.
There was no indication, though, that the victim was raped, as her vagina had no lacerations.
Superintendent Benjamin Lara, medico-legal officer of the Central Visayas Regional Crime Laboratory, noted that the brutal murder was "carefully and meticulously done."
Panelo said the government is suspecting that the killers might be under the influence of illegal drugs.
"Tingin namin baka drug addict 'yun eh. Well, meron ba namang gumagawa ng ganoon? Biruin mo babalatan 'yung mukha? (We think the suspects are drug addicts. Can someone do such murder? You skinned the face?) My goodness," the Palace official said.
"Eh kung isang magaling na medical practitioner o nag-aral tapos may alam diyan tapos siya's adik, pwede 'yun (If the perpetrate is a good medical practitioner, and he knows how to do such systematic murder and he's an addict, that's possible)," he added.
A total of P2 million cash reward awaits anyone who can give information that will lead to the arrest of the killers of Silawan. (SunStar Philippines)