Five witnesses to receive cash reward for helping solve Silawan case

Police Col. Limuel Obon

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — At least five persons will receive the cash reward for the information that they provided which has led to the arrest of Renato Llenes, the accused in the killing of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan.

Police Colonel Limuel Obon, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) director, said in an interview with reporters that the five persons gave indispensable statements that helped in their pursuit against the killer of the teen church collector.

Read more: Suspect Llenes recounts how he killed 16-year-old Christine Silawan

Among them, Obon said, were two persons, who identified Llenes from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that showed the last moments of Silawan on the evening of March 10, and the informant who helped them track Llenes on the day of his arrest on April 9.

Llenes’ former and current common-law partners who attested to his connection with the three Facebook accounts that he allegedly used to befriend Silawan would also be among those who would be given the rewards.

Read more: Lapu to release P1M reward after Silawan’s killer is identified with ‘finality’ – Radaza

A total of P2 million bounty was offered by different persons and offices at the height of the pursuit on the killers of Silawan last March. Of the amount, P1 million was offered by the Lapu-Lapu City government.

“As to the reward, we just submitted our report to Mayor Paz Radaza. Tua sa among report gibutang ang mga tawo nga dapat tagaan og reward. These people, in one way or another, helped us identify [Llenes],” Llenes said in a press conference on Wednesday, May 29.

(As to the reward, we just submitted our report to Mayor Paz Radaza. The names of the persons that will need to get the reward are in the report. These people in one way or another, helped us identify [Llenes].)

Radaza, in a separate interview, said the money had already been set aside and ready for disbursement.

She said that they would just wait until Llenes arraignment on June 7 before they would give it out.

Read more: Llenes’ counsel no show: Court orders reset of Silawan murder case arraignment

Llenes was originally scheduled for arraignment before Branch 70 of the Lapu-Lapu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) on Wednesday morning. However, the proceeding was reset to a later date because of Llenes did not have a lawyer to assist him.

Self-confessed killer Renato Llenes (right)  is escorted outside the courtroom of Branch 70 of Lapu-Lapu City Regional Trial Court during his scheduled arraignment on May 29.

Llenes explained that there might have been a miscommunication between him and his counsel, Manuel Degolacion, regarding the venue of the arraignment causing the latter to miss the proceeding.

Meanwhile, Obon added that he also submitted a copy of their report to Brigadier General Debold Sinas,  Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, which reflected the names of those who would be given the reward.

“We have submitted a copy to our RD for our advisory council sa region. We are just waiting for their advice,” he said.

The Regional Advisory Council (RAC) also pledged a bounty of P100,000.

The rest of the P900,000 bounty came from the Cebu provincial government (P200,000), Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino (P100,000), Philpost Chairman Norman Fulgencio (P100,000) and a Leyte-based American retiree (P500,000).

“I will leave it to our regional director to reach out to them kasi wala man mi direct link sa ilaha (because we don’t have a direct link to them). As to that retired US serviceman, nire-reach out pa namin and we have also prepared a copy of our report. Wa pa lang namo nacontact but I think he is monitoring the case,” Obon said./dbs