Exec clarifies: Teen suspect under custody of local social welfare office not DSWD-7

The 17-year-old suspect (center face covered with cloth) is escorted by NBI agents to the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, March 18, 2019. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The 17-year-old suspect in the killing of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan is under the care of the Local Social Welfare and Development Office   (LSWDO) of Lapu-Lapu City and not of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This was the clarification issued by the Central Visayas office of the DSWD following reports attributing the youth care facility where the boy suspect had been housed and had been under protective custody was run by the agency.

“The agency has been mentioned several times in the media reports because it has been mistakenly identified with the Local Social Welfare and Development Office (LSWDO), that is why we need to clarify that the DSWD and the Local Social Welfare and Development Office are two different entities,” said DSWD-7 Regional Director Rebecca Geamala in a statement issued on Friday, March 29.

The statement clarified that the LSWDO is run by the local government unit and under the local chief executive.

Read more: Teen suspect in Christine Lee Silawan slay back in home care

“The DSWD is a national agency under the executive branch of the national government and headed by the Department Secretary while the Local Social Welfare and Development Office is under the local chief executive or the mayor or governor and headed by the P/C/M/SWDOs. Hence, the provincial/city/municipal social welfare and development office is not under the DSWD but under the local chief executive,” DSWD’s statement reads.

The 17-year-old suspect was submitted in the Home Care Children Center after he was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7) last  March 16. He was ordered released on March 22 after the City Prosecutors ruled that his arrest did not fall under hot pursuit hence, it was invalid.

Read more: Christine Lee Silawan’s family ‘shocked’ and ‘confused’ over suspect’s release

But the suspect was again “voluntarily submitted” by his parents and legal counsel to the Home Care Children Center for protective custody on Thursday, March 28.

“We are saddened by the way the information regarding this case was handled because it has breached the principle of confidentiality of the matter as provided for by the law.  Though the case is handled by the CSWDO of Lapu-Lapu yet the DSWD-7 will do intensive information drive and advocacy among its partners especially the multi-disciplinary team composed of the five pillars of the Criminal Justice System. We shall call for a meeting with them to be able to review and discuss about the proper handling of this case,” Geamala said. /dbs