Duterte wants 17-year-old suspect in Silawan slay re-arrested

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) campaign rally at the South Cotabato Sports Complex in Koronadal City on March 26, 2019. RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, March 26, said he ordered the re-arrest of the 17-year-old main suspect in the brutal murder of Christine Silawan, a Grade 9 student in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu,

In his speech in Koronadal City in South Cotabato, Duterte said he phoned the prosecutor who ordered the release of the perpetrator and told him to reverse the decision.

“Sabi ko i-recall mo ‘yang order ninyo of dismissal (I told him to recall their order of dismissal) and have the guy re-arrested,” the President said.

“‘Di ako papayag ganunin ang bata.

Binalatan mo ang bata, mahuli ka ilang days tapos palayain? Imposible ang hot pursuit na 24 hours lang (I won’t allow them to do that to the child. He skinned the child, he was arrested for a few days and later on he was released? It is impossible to have a hot pursuit within 24 hours only). Six days it’s still hot pursuit,” he added.

The teen suspect, who is Silawan’s ex-boyfriend, was released from the custody of Lapu-Lapu’s social welfare development office on Saturday, the same day Silawan was laid to rest.

It was the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office that ordered the release, stressing in its resolution that the warrantless arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last March 16 was invalid.

Under the Rules of Court, a warrantless arrest is only “lawful” when the suspect has committed or is actually committing a crime in the presence of a police officer.

The perpetrator can also be nabbed without a warrant an authority if “an offense has just been committed, and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it.”

The NBI earlier said it will file a motion for reconsideration seeking to nullify the prosecutors’s ruling.

“Magfa-file kami ng motion for reconsideration dun sa ruling ng piskalya, kung puwede i-reverse niya ‘yung desisyon niya kasi para sa amin sakop ‘yun(g pag-aresto) sa hot pursuit operation kaya justified ‘yung warrantless arrest (We will file a motion for reconsideration on the ruling of the fiscal if they can reverse their decision because for us the arrest is still covered in the hot pursuit operation that is why the warrantless arrest is justified),” lawyer Tomas Enrile of NBI Region 7 told Dobol B sa News TV on Monday.

The lifeless body of Silawan, a Grade 9 student, was recovered in Barangay Bangkal, Lapu-Lapu City on March 11. Her body was found half-naked with multiple stab wounds and her skull exposed because of her face being skinned.