PDut: Rearrest Silawan slay suspect

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ordered on Tuesday, March 26, the rearrest of the 17-year-old suspect in the murder of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan in LapuLapu City, Cebu.

“’Yung nakapatay na bata, ni-release. Tinawagan ko ‘yun. Sabi ko, i-recall mo ‘yung desisyon. Have the guy rearrested. Piskal ako (The teenage suspect was released. I called the prosecutor’s office. I said, recall the decision. Have the guy rearrested. I’m also a fiscal),” the President said in a speech delivered in South Cotabato on Tuesday night, March 26.

On March 23, the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office had ordered the release of the teen suspect, a week after his arrest on March 16, on grounds that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested him without a warrant several days after the commission of the crime.

Under the Rules of Court, a warrantless arrest can be done only if the suspect has committed or is actually committing an offense in the presence of the responding police officers or if the person is a prisoner who has escaped.

A suspect can also be arrested without warrant through a “hot pursuit” operation, from which the police officer has personal knowledge about the crime committed by the suspect.

Fiscal Ruso Zaragoza of the Lapu-Lapu Prosecutor’s Office went to the house of the child in conflict with the law on Wednesday morning, to personally ask the mother to surrender her son.

The mother agreed but implored the President to give her son due process and not judge the boy in haste.

“President, ang ako lang hangyo nimo nga ug unsa gali ang resulta diri sa ubos lang ba (sa Lapu-Lapu) ug unsay resulta mga proseso nga kuan mao lang say imong tan-awon dili lang sa ka mo judge ug unsa dayon dili ka modiritso dayon ug desisyon nga unsa mga proseso lang unta diri maoy kuhaan sad nimo ug base mao nang ako nanghangyo jud ko nimo unsa ang proseso imong timbang-timbangon kay sahi ra pud ikaw usa pud ka ka-ginikanan ako ginikanan pud nakasabot pud ka sa akong side,” the mother said.

(Mr. President, my only request is that you also take a look at the local process here before you make a judgement or decision. I implore you to weigh the processes because you are also a parent. I am a parent too, and I know you understand my side) .

Silawan’s body was found without clothing on her lower extremities and with her face skinned on a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City, on March 11.

Authorities later found that the anterior part of Silawan’s neck and her trachea, tongue, esophagus, right neck muscle and right ear had been removed. The suspect was arrested by NBI agents at his house in Barangay Maribago on March 16. He was linked to the crime based on surveillance clips and a cellphone used to communicate with the victim.