THE family of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan has refused to bury her if the primary suspect in her murder is not in police custody.
Her sister Lousiline and mother Lourdes want the culprit to be arrested soon because they do not want to prolong their agony.
The victim was supposed to celebrate her 17th birthday on March 26. She was found dead on a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City on Monday morning, March 11.
“If anyone has any information that might lead to the arrest of the main killer, please go to the authorities. We don’t want our suffering to continue,” Lousiline said in Cebuano.
“Because her birthday is coming up, we hope to attain justice by then,” Lourdes said in Cebuano.
In another development, the manhunt against the suspect has been expanded throughout Cebu Province. This meant that the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) tapped other units, including the Cebu Provincial Police Office, in finding and arresting the suspect.
Although he did not set a deadline, LCPO Director Limuel Obon hopes the suspect will be in their custody within this week.
He also said they may expand the manhunt regionwide or nationwide if the suspect had left Cebu.
Obon said the suspect was not a “fall guy.” However, the police official refused to divulge his name.
Obon said they will arrest the suspect alive, so the latter can divulge the reason behind the killing and identify his two cohorts.
A witness saw three men chasing after Christine on the night she was killed.
The only detail Obon gave reporters was that the suspect communicated with the victim.
Obon described the suspect, who is wanted for another murder, as a “techie” who reportedly knows police work.
Meanwhile, two more individuals added to the reward money for the arrest of Christine’s killers, which, as of Thursday, March 14, stood at P2 million.
Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino and Philippine Postal Corp. Chairman Norman Fulgencio donated P100,000 each.
Dino went to the teenager’s wake in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu last Thursday to turn over the P20,000 cash assistance from President Rodrigo Duterte. He also extended the President’s condolences to the family.
“No person in their right mind would commit such an act; and no person, least of all an innocent young girl, should be made to suffer so brutally. This killing is only seen in the most perverse and sick of horror movies, and never should have happened in real life, least of all right here in our own backyard,” Dino said of Christine’s murder.
It was also learned that the Provincial Government set aside P200,000 for the bounty and P50,000 for the family. Funding will reportedly come from the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children. (From GCM and SCG of Superbalita Cebu, KAL)