Teenager in Silawan slay ordered freed
The 17-year-old suspect in the savage killing of 16-year-old Christine Silawan in Lapu-Lapu City two weeks ago, was freed on Saturday because he was arrested without a warrant.
CEBU CITY— Slain 16-year-old Christine Silawan was buried in Cordova town on Saturday, the same day Lapu-Lapu prosecutors released the 17-year-old suspect because he was arrested without a warrant.
Silawan’s parents set the burial on Saturday after National Bureau of Investigation agents arrested the suspect at his home at Barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City, on March 16, seven days after the girl was killed.
Ironically, the suspect’s release came on the day she was buried at Cattleya Gardens Memorial Park in Cordova town, Mactan Island, Cebu.
More than 1,000 people attended Mass for Silawan at the Sto. Niño Church in Lapu-Lapu City, including Mayor Paz Radaza, Vice Mayor Marcial Ycong, and members of the group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, led by Dante Jimenez.
Some of the mourners were not even relatives or friends and attended the funeral just to show support for the family.
“I just wanted to witness the burial so I could pray for her that she would be given justice,” said 71-year-old Leonidisa Flores of Cordova, who knew of Silawan’s fate only through news reports.
Aside from the pain of burying a family member, the Silawans were also surprised by news of the suspect’s release and disappointed that the NBI office in Cebu did not follow the proper arrest procedure.
The suspect’s lawyer Vincent Isle confirmed that the boy was released from the Lapu-Lapu City Social Welfare and Development Office past noon on Saturday.
But the suspect still has to face the murder complaint that the NBI filed against him.
Silawan was found dead on March 11 at Barangay Bangkal in Lapu-Lapu with half her face gone, her organs in the neck removed and with 30 stab wounds.