CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma is not discounting the possibility that the killers of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan may belong to a cult.
But while police have yet to confirm that they are looking at this angle, residents in some mountain barangays in Danao City have been living in fear they will become victims of a murderous cult whose members were allegedly behind the gruesome murder of a 60-year-old farmer in the area last January.
In an interview, Palma said the manner of the teen’s death made it highly probable that a cult was involved, considering her face was skinned to the bone and her throat, tongue and right ear were severed.
Last Monday, March 11, Silawan’s mutilated, half-naked body was found on a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City.
“Everything is possible. A cult could have probably been behind it, especially with how the way she (Silawan) was murdered. Why are there so many stab wounds? There is a probability that this cult is following flawed practices and philosophies,” Palma said in Cebuano.
Meanwhile, residents of Sitio Agutayan, Barangay Lawaan and neighboring barangays in Danao City have been staying behind locked doors at night since the dead body of Batucan was found with the skin on his face and chest missing two months ago.
Cantican Barangay Captain Josephine Andajao told Superbalita Cebu that most of her constituents have been afraid to venture out at night since then.
Officials of public schools there have decided to dismiss their students earlier than usual following the incident.
Officials of Barangays Cahumayan and Dungga, which are adjacent to Lawaan, also expressed their constituents’ concerns before Danao City Police Chief Supt. Maribelle Getigan during a meeting last Friday, March 15.
They said unidentified men would knock on residents’ doors very late at night. As a result, some have become anxious, especially after they heard what happened to Batucan.
Rumors have been circulating in Danao City’s mountain barangays that aside from Batucan, the cultists led by Jonas Martel Bueno and his brothers Junrey and Jovie had also killed three other people, whose deaths were not reported to authorities.
Jonas was arrested in Davao City last Friday. His arrest warrant was issued by Danao City Regional Trial Court Branch 25 Judge Jerry Dicdican.
According to the rumors, the Buenos’ modus operandi was to skin and mutilate their dead victims. They would then use these as ingredients in a stew, which they would eat.
Although news of Jonas’ arrest made residents happy, some were still afraid because they claimed that the close to 18 cult members living in Danao City’s hinterland have yet to be arrested.
An official of the Police Regional Office 7, who asked not to be named, disclosed that Jonas’ brothers Junrey and Jovie were killed in a police operation.
Following their deaths, Jonas became cult leader.
Members of the cult reportedly sport demonic tattoos to symbolize their beliefs.
Although he has yet to receive information on the flesh-eating cult, Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena has tasked Danao City police to investigate the reports they’ve gathered from village chiefs.
Aside from the police, military personnel under Task Force Cebu have been deployed to Danao’s mountain villages to monitor criminal activities there. FROM SCG AND AYB OF SUPERBALITA CEBU / JKV