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Dacera family lauds PNP effort to solve Christine’s case

Sharon Dacera
THE mother of slain PAL flight attendant Christine Angelica Dacera, Mrs. Sharon Dacera listens intently as PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas briefs her on the progress of their investigation into the rape-slay case. With the PNP chief are Lieutenant Generals Cesar Hawthorne R. Binag and Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar. Photo by Alfred P. Dalizon

THE family of slain flight attendant Christine Angelica Dacera yesterday thanked Philippine National Police chief, General Debold M. Sinas and his men for their all-out effort to solve the latter’s rape-slay even as the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group issued subpoenas for the other suspects who remained at-large in order to force them to surface for investigation.

“We really, really appreciate what the PNP is doing now. Umaapaw ang pasasalamat namin ke Gen. Sinas at sa mga tao nya. All we want is speedy justice for my daughter. Soon anak, what happened to you will be justified, and masasabi namin na tama lang na si Christine and sacrificial lamb. I know justice will prevail,” said the victim’s mother Sharon.

Gen. Sinas, accompanied by PNP Deputy Chief for Administration, Lieutenant Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne R. Binag, National Capital Region Police Office director, Brigadier Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr. ,Southern Police District director, Brig. Gen. Emmanuel B. Peralta and PNP Crime Laboratory director, Brig. Gen. Steve B. Ludan met members of the Dacera family, their close friends and lawyers in San Juan early yesterday morning to brief them on the progress of the ongoing investigation into the crime.

The PNP chief and his top officials, along with investigators from the Makati City Police Station, the PNP-CIDG and the PNP Crime Lab also heard concerns raised by the Dacera camp including questions on how the Makati City police initially handled the investigation of the case and how the body of Christine ended up being autopsied in a local funeral parlor.

Gen. Sinas said they will fully address all concerns raised by the Dacera camp but at the same time appealed to the media to wait for the result of the forensic tests conducted on some pieces of evidence recovered inside the room in City Garden Hotel in Makati City where the victim and the accused held a New Year’s Eve party.

Journal Group sources said that drinks recovered at the hotel room have been subjected to laboratory examinations to determine if they were really laced with drugs specifically the designer drug called ‘Ecstasy.’ This after one of the personalities being investigated in connection with the case told investigators that before she was found unconscious, Christine intimated to him that she thinks that her drink was laced with suspected drugs.

Gen. Sinas said that apart from the nine persons already being sought by the police, a number of people seen in the hotel’s CCTV recordings will also be sought for questioning. Three suspects are already under custody by the Makati City police and have been inquested for rape with homicide.

The PNP chief also maintained that based on the parameters set by the National Police Commission, they already consider the Dacera case as ‘solved’ with the arrest of the three suspects and the filing of charges against them.

He also called on some members of the press not to pit him against NCRPO’s Danao who earlier said that the case, as far as he is concerned, is still unsolved.

“ I have issued a 72-hour ultimatum for the other suspects to surrender and answer the charges against them. Right now, the CIDG will issue a subpoena on them. In the event they fail to comply with the subpoena, they will be facing contempt charges before the court and once warrants for their arrest are issued, we will arrest them,” he said.

Gen. Sinas said that the CIDG-NCR office headed by Colonel Randy Glenn F. Silvio will be taking over the investigation of the case although it would still be getting assistance from the Makati City police.

He said that as of press time, some of the persons seen in CCTV footages have made ‘initial contact’ with them and express willingness to air their side before investigators. He maintained that all persons seen in the CCTV during the New Year’s Eve party which turned into a tragedy will be included in the case.

“We came to realize na marami pang involved, me mga kaya pa sa buhay,” he said. Gen. Sinas said that it is also up for the court to decide on the merits of the case specifically the rape angle.

“Yung mga babae nga na me asawa, puwedeng magreklamo ng rape sa kanila asawa eh yung dalaga pa kaya,” he said.

The PNP chief also requested the public and the media to refrain from speculating on the case specifically in the social media.

“To the family of the suspects, let them surrender peacefully and give their side kung hindi sila guilty. I am assuring them that they will be given due process,” he said.

He also said they are leaving to their experts the need to explain the real cause of the victim’s death amid reports that she died of aneurysm and was neither killed nor raped. However, he insisted that the victim was raped.

“We have discussed with the investigators and the other senior officers. I think there is really rape. Look, hindi ba yung babae may bruises?” he said.