DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- Even ordinary citizens are outraged by the brutal murder of 20-year-old Rebelyn Pitao.

While she was the daughter of local New People's Army leader Leoncio Pitao, the object of much criticism for his alleged atrocities, sympathy for the Pitao family continues to grow as condemnation of her gruesome murder mounts.

Rebelyn's death has become a hot topic even among passengers of public utility vehicles. In coffee shops, sidewalks, parks and public markets, her fate is often discussed.

One resident called it "a gruesome murder by someone so heartless."

Irene Mendoza, who also has a 20-year-old daughter, said she could not believe that someone innocent like Rebelyn would pay for the "sins of her father, if he's ever done something wrong."

"What they did to her was simply barbaric. It was just too much…. What has she done that she must suffer that kind of death? If her father has done something wrong, why would she be the one to pay for it? She's innocent and she has definitely nothing to do with the revolution of her father," Mendoza said.

Jocelyn Jose, who is Rebelyn's age, said she too could not understand why Pitao's youngest daughter had to be killed.

"It was really heartbreaking even if I did not know her. I was devastated when I heard the news," she said.

Jose said if Rebelyn's killers were after his father, then they could have simply hunted him down in the mountains. "Why was she targeted?"

A cigarette vendor said she felt insulted when the military denied any involvement in Rebelyn's death.

"Who else could do that? Are we idiots? We know that only the military has the reason and the motive to do it. They (military) can deny it forever but we know that it is only the military which has the capacity to do something as brutal as that," said the cigarette vendor, who identified herself only as Miranda.

Rebelyn turned up dead on Thursday evening in Carmen, Davao Del Norte, a day after armed men -- suspected by her family to be military agents -- snatched her near their home in Bago Gallera in Davao’s Talomo district.

A farmer found her body near an irrigation ditch in Purok (sub-village) 5 in Barangay (village) San Isidro.

Dr. Tomas Dimaandal of the Davao City police's Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) said in his autopsy report that Rebelyn had been dead for more than 20 hours when her body was found.

Dimaandal said in his report that her body bore five wounds inflicted by a slender and sharp object such as an ice-pick that went through her chest and pierced her lungs and liver.

The autopsy report also said that a laceration was found on her genitalia.

Rebelyn's family and friends said they suspected that her kidnappers raped her before they killed her.

"It was very clear that the military did it," a taho (a soya-based dessert) vendor said.

"They got her because she was her father's daughter," a jeepney passenger said.

Some people the Inquirer spoke with said if soldiers could do it to the daughter of a ranking NPA leader, then ordinary people without any kind of protection could face the same fate if suspected by the military to be rebels.

"We are outraged by this. How can they be so heartless? As a student, we find it chilling that even civilians are no longer spared from this kind of violence. Where can civilians go now?" said Paul Anthony Crooks, a mass communication student at the Ateneo De Davao University.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, a close friend of Pitao or Commander Parago, called Rebelyn's murder "a deed most foul."

"Kung galit sila (NPA), mas galit ako (If the NPA is angry, I’m more angry)," he said.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command, admitted being bothered by the public perception that the military was behind the killing of Rebelyn.

"It's really a concern. And we are bothered, that is why we have opened our doors for investigations, for the truth to really come out. We want this issue to come to its end," Cabangbang said.