Teen suspect in Lapu-Lapu slay to be sent to DSWD facility, lawyer says

MANILA, Philippines — The suspect in the gruesome killing of a Lapu-Lapu City schoolgirl earlier this month will be committed to a government facility today, his legal counsel said.

In an interview with DZMM Thursday morning, lawyer Vincent Isles said: “We have decided, with the mother, that we will voluntarily commit to a child care facility.”

Isles said that they will retrieve the teen suspect from a safe house and commit him to the social welfare facility later on Thursday.

This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte, a former city prosecutor himself, said that he called up the local prosecutor handling the case and ordered him to “recall the dismissal and have the guy re-arrested.”

Isles also said that Duterte may have been “misinformed” about the circumstances of the case. He said that it would be difficult for the president to read the entire documents regarding the case, but he insisted that the local prosecutor was "correct" in deeming that his client's arrest was unlawful following the procedures of the Rules of Court.

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'Hot pursuit'

On March 23, the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office ordered the release of the suspect, a teenager, because the National Bureau of Investigation arrested him without a warrant.

Prosecutors explained a warrantless arrest is justified only if a person is about to commit a crime, had just committed a crime or is a fugitive. The boy had been arrested five days after the victim's body was found.

Duterte insisted that the teenage boy suspect should be detained following the principle of “hot pursuit.”

The Rules of Court provide that a law enforcement agent or a civilian can lawfully arrest someone without a arrest when:

• In his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense
• An offense has just been committed, and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it
• The person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that authorities would have “to ask for reconsideration of the prosecutor’s release order and, if granted, proceed with the inquest.”

READ: DOJ: Authorities need to ask fiscal to reconsider release of Lapu-Lapu slay suspect

Isles said that the National Bureau of Investigation has already filed an appeal on the release of the suspect, but he said that they would file an opposition against the authorities' motion for reconsideration. — Kristine Joy Patag