Palace: Drug addict could be behind Cebu teen’s brutal slay

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday said a drug addict could be behind the gruesome killing of a Grade 9 student in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the police to search for the suspects and investigate the incident.

“May directive na siya [Duterte] to investigate. Tingin namin baka drug addict ‘yun eh,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“Mayroon ba namang gumagawa ng ganoon? Biro mo, babalatan iyong mukha…my goodness.,” he added.

The 17-year-old victim, identified as Christine Lee Silawan, a student of Maribago High School, was first reported missing by her mother on Sunday. Her body was found naked from waist down at a vacant lot on Monday morning in Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Bankal in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

Half of the face of Silawan was not only skinned to her skull; the perpetrators, according to the authorities, also took some of her internal organs from the neck with precise incisions and cuts, and stabbed her 30 times.

READ: Cebu teenager’s slay: Precise mutilation shocks, baffles authorities

Although she was half-naked, Supt. Benjamin Lara, medico legal office of the Central Visayas Regional Crime Laboratory, said they didn’t find fresh lacerations on the genitalia that might indicate she was raped.

Duterte on Monday night expressed outraged over the incident. /je

READ: Duterte deplores cruel slay of teenager in Cebu