With death of murder suspect, justice ‘undelivered’ in Silawan case

The death of Silawan murder suspect Renato Llenes has closed the case but justice for Christine Lee Silawan has remained undelivered. | CDN Digital File photos

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The death of her alleged murderer has not brought true justice for 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan.

Instead, the death of self-confessed killer Renato Llenes has only extinguished his criminal liabilities, deeming the Silawan case as “closed.”

“Subo nga pamalandongon nga dili gyud ta makaingon nga nakuha nato ang hustisya on the ground nga namatay man siya, wala siya ma-proven [guilty] beyond reasonable doubt through court process,” Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor Ruso Zaragoza told CDN Digital on Monday, May 25, 2020.

(It is unfortunate that we were not able to say that justice was served on the ground that [the suspect] died, he was not proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt through court process.)

Fiscal Zaragoza is the main prosecutor of the Silawan case.

READ: Body of 16-year-old church collector whose face was skinned found in Lapu-Lapu City

Llenes, who was arrested and admitted to the crime last April 2019, was found dead inside the comfort room of his detention cell at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail last Sunday, May 24, after purportedly taking his own life.

READ: Silawan murder suspect allegedly kills self

“Ang effect man gud kung mamatay ang usa ka akusado, ma-extinguish pod ang iyang criminal liability, so dili na ta makaproceed sa atong prosecution,” Zaragoza explained.

(The effect is that when an accused dies, his criminal liability is also extinguished, so we can no longer proceed with the prosecution.)

Case closed

Since the prosecution is resolved that Llenes was responsible for the girl’s brutal death on March 11, 2019, Zaragoza said that the case will already be closed with Llenes’s death.

“As far as our office is concerned, [the case is] closed kay mao man gyud to ang among resolve sa among office nga siya gyud mao ang responsable sa kamatayon ni Christine Silawan,” Zaragoza said.

(As far as our office is concerned, the case is already closed since our office’s resolved that Llenes was really responsible for the death of Christine Silawan.)

Although Llenes has admitted to the crime when he was arrested, the accused had entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment last June 2019.

READ: Self-confessed killer of Lapu-Lapu teen pleads not guilty to murder charges

Llenes’s camp had tried to enter into plea bargain agreement, wherein he would enter a guilty plea with the condition that the case will be downgraded to homicide instead of murder.

The prosecution camp did not agree to the plea bargain as Zaragoza said they are confident to claim a conviction with their evidence on hand.

Prior to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus disease that has stalled court proceedings, the prosecution had already presented one witness from the police force to testify how Llenes became their suspect for the death of Silawan.

Aside from the police’s account and Llenes earlier confession, the latter’s live-in partner and some neighbors are also among those who are supposed to testify against Llenes in court.

READ: Lapu-Lapu fiscal: File murder case against Llenes in court

Before Llenes was arrested by the police, the National Bureau of Investigation Central Visayas Regional Office (NBI-CEVRO) also nabbed Silawan’s ex-boyfriend who was a minor at the time of the arrest.

The boy, however, was eventually released after the panel of prosecutors cleared him and indicted Llenes for the murder. /bmjo