Girl found dead in Los Baños

LAGUNA—A 14-year-old high school student was found dead, with marks indicating she could have also been raped, in Los Baños, Laguna, yesterday.

Supt. Dante Novicio, the Los Baños police chief, said in a phone interview that a resident found the victim’s body in a banana plantation in Barangay Batong Malake past 9 a.m.

Initial police reports said a pair of jogging pants the victim wore was tied around her neck, which may had been used to strangle her to death.

“Her underwear was also removed,” said Novicio, although autopsy results have yet to be completed to confirm if the victim was sexually abused.

Police identified the victim as a second year student of Batong Malake National High School. She used to sell sampaguita leis to earn extra money, Novicio said, quoting the victim’s neighbors.

Police requested that the identity of the victim be withheld. The victim’s family has been informed although they have yet to give a statement to police.

In October last year, a student from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Given Grace Cebanico, was murdered and raped, prompting tighter security inside the university compound and in the surrounding villages of Batong Malake and San Antonio.

Cebanico was abducted by the suspects, a tricycle driver and a bank security guard who were later arrested, near her dormitory in Barangay Batong Malake, but her body was found in a remote portion of the UPLB campus in Barangay Putho-Tuntingin. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon