With the filing of a murder case against the 17-year-old suspect in the killing of Christine Lee Silawan at the Lapu-Lapu Prosecutor’s Office, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu Province chapter says they will represent the prosecution during the hearing of the case. |Tonee Despojo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Cebu Province chapter lawyers will appear as counsels for the prosecution side in the case of Christine Lee Silawan.
Lawyer Mundlyn Misal-Martin, president of IBP Cebu Province, told CDN Digital that they would be appearing for free “in aid of the prosecution service.”
Read more: Murder complaint filed against 17-year-old suspect in Christine Silawan killing
On Monday, March 18, the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) has filed a murder case in relation to Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175) against a 17-year-old boy identified as a former lover of the victim and is now tagged as the primary suspect in the brutal killing of the ninth grader Silawan.
Silawan was the 16-year-old girl who was found at a grassy lot in Barangay Bankal in Lapu-lapu City on March 11, Monday. She was half-naked, with half of her face skinned to the bone and several internal organs missing.
Read more: NBI: Facebook chats, CCTV footage prove 17-year-old to be prime suspect in Silawan’s slay
According to the NBI-7 investigation, the suspect was the last person pointed out by eyewitnesses, and pieces of CCTV footage showed he was the last person to be with Silawan before she went missing on Sunday, March 10.
“IBP Cebu Chapter will actively handle in the prosecution of this case so I will defer any statement,”Misal-Martin told CDN Digital when asked for her insight in the prosecution with the suspect being a minor.
NBI-7 Assistant Regional Director Dominador Cimafranca earlier said that it had yet to be established if the suspect acted with discernment when he supposedly committed the crime.
Since the suspect is a minor, he is currently under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Lapu-lapu City./dbs