The Philippine National Police now considers the case of the grisly murder of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan of Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu as solved.
Still, it will only be considered closed when the police finally arrest the two accomplices of the main suspect, who is reportedly Silawan’s former boyfriend.
PNP spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac said the National Bureau of Investigation is now handling the investigation of the case, with the PNP assisting the agency in hunting down the two other suspects.
“Meron pang mga posibleng dalawa pang suspects na may kaugnayan sa kasong ito kaya patuloy ang pagsuporta ng PNP dahil ang NBI na ang lead agency dito sa investigation at lahat ng mga records na nauna na nating hawak ay nakahanda na pong ibahagi sa NBI Regional Office 7 at inaasahan natin sa loob ng madaling panahon ay magkakaroon ito ng resulta katulad din na nangyari na pagkaroon ng agarang kalutasan sa kaso,” said Banac.
(There are two other suspects in the case and the PNP continues to support the NBI, which is now the lead agency handling the investigation, and the NBI Central Visayas is set to release all the records that we have on the case. We expect the case to be resolved soon.)
On Saturday, NBI agents arrested the 17-year-old suspect, who reportedly admitted his role in the killing, together with his two cohorts.
The suspect was identified through a CCTV footage as the last person seen with Silawan in the evening of March 10, before she was found dead.
Silawan’s lifeless body was found in a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City on March 11. Her face was skinned to the bone and some of her organs were missing.