Christine Dacera’s remains flown to General Santos City

KORONADAL CITY – The remains of Christine Dacera, the 23-year-old flight attendant and allegedly a victim of gang rape, who was found dead in her hotel room in Makati City, arrived at the General Santos City airport shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday amid tight security provided by the police.

Her remains were contained in a sealed wooden box and immediately whisked to a waiting van and brought to the city’s St. Peter Chapels, where family members and close friends clad in white shirts were waiting.

The body of Dacera, the second of four siblings, was found at the bathtub of a room in the City Garden Grand Hotel around noon of Jan. 1, reportedly after partying with friends.

The police tagged 11 males, some of whom admitted they are gays, as suspects in the death of Dacera, who graduated cum laude with a communications degree at the University of the Philippines–Mindanao in Davao City.

The media were barred from getting close to Dacera’s family members, who accompanied her aboard the Philippine Airlines, where she worked until her death.

The van carrying Dacera’s remains left the airport about 25 minutes after the commercial plane arrived, escorted by the Philippine National Police’s elite Special Weapons and Tactics team and another police patrol car.

LZB