2 in murder of UPLB student now in custody

A photo of Given Grace Cebanico, 19, on her Facebook account. She is a Computer Science student of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB), who was found dead Tuesday.CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—It was a simple twist of fate that Given Grace Cebanico, 19, was out on the street at that time.

“If not her, someone else would have been their victim,” said a village official privy to the investigation of the murder of Given Grace, a student of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Quoting a witness account, the official said the suspects—tricycle driver Percival de Guzman, alias Totoy, 38, and bank security guard Lester Ivan Lopez Rivera, 22—were planning to rob a male businessman who regularly passes by the area. The businessman was the real target, said the official.

“But for some reason, the target did not show up. They instead chanced upon Given Grace,” said the official of Barangay Batong Malake in Los Baños, Laguna, who declined to be named for lack of authority to talk on the case.

Given Grace was on her way back to her dormitory at around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday when she was tailed by the suspects aboard De Guzman’s tricycle, somewhere on Diamond Street.

“The witness said they were just supposed to take her laptop. He said he backed out when he sensed that the two had planned something else on the girl,” the official said.

After Given Grace’s body was recovered, the witness confessed being with the suspects to his friend and a village watchman, who turned him in to authorities to become a government witness.

De Guzman was immediately placed under the surveillance of village authorities but he could not immediately be arrested for lack of hard evidence.

“But on Wednesday evening, someone reported that there was a quarrel going on along FO Santos Street. When we arrived, it was De Guzman and a mentally ill kid,” the official said.

Village officials took this chance to arrest De Guzman.

When authorities frisked De Guzman, Given Grace’s iPhone was recovered from him.

De Guzman was turned over to the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. De Guzman admitted the crime during questioning.

Rivera, on the other hand, went into hiding in his relatives’ home in Pampanga. Police in Pampanga said Rivera yielded after his grandfather alerted authorities.

Rivera was turned over to the custody of the Los Baños police.

On Friday noon, at least 300 students and faculty members at UPLB joined an indignation rally to seek justice for the murder of Given Grace.

Her teachers, dorm mates and friends wore white and lit candles at the Carabao Park in the university in memory of the slain student.

Given Grace’s remains were brought home to Binangonan, Rizal, where she would be laid to rest at a still unannounced date.