Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Oscar Albayalde, presents the suspect in the murder of 16-year-old Christine Silawan at Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7) headquarters. | CDN Digital Photo by Tonee Despojo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Oscar Albayalde said the murder case of 16-year-old would be considered ‘solved but not closed’.
This after Albayalde led the presentation of another suspect behind the brutal killing of Silawan, identified as Renato Payupan Llenes, together with police in Cebu at Camp Sergio Osmeña at Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City today, Thursday (April 11).
“We can probably say it’s solved. Pagfile na lang ng kaso … It’s solved but never closed. Hindi natin alam kung sinasabi niya ay totoo although in the CCTV (closed circuit television) footage lumalabas na siya yung kasama ni Christine at that time,” said Albayalde.
(We can probably say that it’s solved. We only have to file the case, then it’s solved but never closed. This is because we don’t know yet that the suspect is telling the truth, although in the CCTV (closed circuit televivision) footage, it shows that he is the person with Christine at that time.)
READ MORE: Suspect Llenes recounts how he killed 16-year-old Christine Silawan
SEE MORE HERE: GALLERY: Images of self-confessed suspect in Christine Lee Silawan murder
Today also marked a month since Silawan’s corpse was discovered in a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City on March 11. With portions of her face and neck flayed, and several internal organs missing, Silawan’s death sparked national outrage.
The PNP chief, who is in Cebu City today to lead a command conference among top police officials in Central Visayas, also said they would be submitting the evidence they gathered — the pair of scissors the suspect claimed he used on stabbing and skinning Silawan, and several clothing items — to the PNP’s crime laboratory for DNA examination.
He added that the results of the DNA examination would be used to strengthen the murder case the police would be filing against Llenes./dbs
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