DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines — A horse-drawn carriage bedecked with balloons and flowers carried the body of the 15-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Cabugao town, Ilocos Sur province, as she was laid to rest on Wednesday.
Accompanied by police patrol cars, the victim’s family and over 500 supporters wore shirts with messages calling for justice during the funeral march that began at 7:30 a.m.
The girl’s remains were taken to the town’s church for the funeral Mass before she was buried at Cabugao Roman Catholic cemetery.
Outpouring of support
The girl’s mother appealed for a swift resolution of the rape and murder complaints filed in the Department of Justice against two policemen, the main suspects in the crimes.
The mother left her job as a domestic helper in Kuwait to see her daughter’s remains. “I’m thankful for the outpouring of support that we’re receiving. I did not expect that so many people would join us while we grieved,” she told the Inquirer.
She said she last spoke with her daughter via a video call on June 30. Her daughter requested for a “nice dress” as a “pasalubong” (gift), she said.
“It’s very painful for me. I want justice. I want them to pay for what they did to my child,” the mother said when she arrived in Manila on July 13.
She described her sixth child as “malambing” (warm). She said her daughter wanted to become a nurse or a flight attendant.
Her daughter was shot and killed on July 2 by two assailants on a motorcycle after following up on a rape complaint filed against Staff Sergeants Randy Ramos and Marawi Torda, both of the San Juan police in Ilocos Sur.
The girl’s 18-year-old cousin had also accused Ramos of rape.
The two policemen arrested the cousins on June 27 for violation of the curfew while attending a birthday party in San Juan. Instead of bringing them home, the cousins said the two policemen sexually assaulted them at a beach in Cabugao.
—With reports from Leoncio Balbin Jr. and Jerome Aning