Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera who was found lifeless inside a hotel room in Makati City on New Year’s Day.
In a department order dated January 7, Guevarra required the NBI to file appropriate charges against all persons who would be found liable for any illegal act that resulted in the death of Dacera, if the evidence warranted.
NBI OIC Director Eric Distor was also directed to submit a report to the Justice Secretary on the progress of the investigation within 10 days and periodically after.
Dacera, 23, died on January 1 following a New Year’s Eve celebration at a Makati hotel. Her family believes she was drugged and sexually abused.
Her friends, who were with her at the party, denied they raped and killed her, instead they claimed they cared for her until her final moments.
Guevarra earlier told the NBI to assist the police in its investigation, and the new directive comes days ahead of a separate investigation to be conducted by prosecutors in Makati.
The Makati prosecutor’s office will start a preliminary investigation on January 13. At the end of this process, prosecutors will decide whether to file charges against the respondents in court.
Police have drawn criticism for what observers described as the sloppy probe of Dacera’s death on January 1, with the Makati City prosecutor ordering three suspects released over insufficient evidence for charges of rape with homicide, and setting the case for further investigation.
Metro Manila police chief Police Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. earlier said they had formed a Special Investigation Task Group to build an airtight case, after the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office decided to call a preliminary investigation of the 23-year-old flight attendant’s death.
The Prosecutor’s Office had said Dacera’s death needed more clarification. Police hold that the case was one of rape with homicide, while the initial autopsy report found that her death was due to ruptured aortic aneurysm.
Dacera was found unconscious and without a pulse in a bathtub in a Makati hotel around 12:30 p.m. on January 1 after a night of partying.
Meanwhile, Senator Manny Pacquiao urged the other suspects to appear before the Philippine National Police or any law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation to clear everything that happened which led to Dacera’s death.
In this regard, the senator said his offer of P500,000 reward to get the others involved in the crime stays.
“Let it be clear however that this bounty was put up only to ensure that all the people who were present on the night leading to the discovery of Christine’s lifeless body would come forward and shed light about this incident,” said Pacquiao.
The victim’s mother, Sharon Dacera, earlier sought the help of Pacquiao, her ‘kababayan’ in Gen. Santos City.
This bounty, he said, would be converted as financial aid to the family of Christine, if and when all the persons of interest had voluntarily surrendered and not arrested, and had submitted themselves to investigating authorities.
“If you are indeed real friends of Christine and have concern for her and her grieving family and loved ones, I am appealing to you to value your friendship by showing up so we know what occurred,” he said.
He guaranteed to help to ensure the safety of all the suspects because “I believe that like you and the family of
Christine, our sole goal is to know the truth. We all want to know the truth.”
Three — John Pascual dela Serna III, Rommel Daluro Galido, John Paul Reyes Halili — had all surrendered themselves to tell their story about what had happened.
Meanwhile, the men implicated in Dacera’s death appealed to lawmakers to recall the bounty placed on their heads as they vowed to respond to the complaint filed against them.
ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric Yap offered a P100,000 reward to anyone who could give information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects, while Sen. Manny Pacquiao offered another P500,000.
Lawyer Mike Santiago, who spoke with ANC’s Headstart along with four of his clients, said the bounty was affecting the security of the respondents.
In related developments, Clark Rapinan told ANC’s Headstart Dacera was still breathing when he checked up on her at 10 a.m. on New Year’s Day, but her lips were already purplish by noon.
Their group had been staying in room 2209 and a separate group of about 7 or 8 was in room 2207. Rapinan said people in 2207 called his attention around that time to say Dacera had vomited there.
Around 6 a.m, after they brought Dacera back to their room in 2209, the flight attendant complained of a headache and started vomiting again. Five people, including Rapinan, assisted Dacera.
Rapinan said by 8 a.m., he was the only one left assisting Dacera. The flight attendant then insisted on staying in the bathtub so as to not soil the hotel bed.
Rommel Galido said he found Christine in a bathtub around 10 a.m. and claimed she was still breathing and she tapped her stomach and made a gesture that Galido interpreted as asking him to leave her alone.
Instead of picking her up and making her lie on the bed, he gave her a blanket, he said.
Meanwhile, Dacera’s companions said she would have told them if she had been raped the night before she was found dead.
Valentine Rosales, who celebrated New Year’s Eve with Dacera, said the flight attendant “just kept on vomiting” when he and their other companions moved her back to their room.
Rosales, Dacera, and nine others were staying in hotel room number 2209, while a separate group stayed in 2207. Their group had to fetch Dacera from the other room after she vomited there around 4 AM, recalled Clark Rapinan, another person who was with Dacera that night.
“If she was raped, she would have let us know what happened to her,” Rosales told ANC’s Headstart.
Rommel Galido, one of the respondents in the case, said Dacera would have told him if something had happened to her that night because they are close friends.