EDITORIAL - No more dreams to achieve

After almost two weeks since her grisly murder, Lapu-Lapu City teenager Christine Lee Silawan was laid to rest on Saturday with her grieving family, relatives and friends still crying in complete disbelief about her untimely passing.

Coincidentally, as her remains were being ushered to her final resting place, the suspect in her death was released from detention upon the orders of the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office, which ruled that his arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation was illegal.

But that does not mean the complaint against the 17-year-old suspect also dies a natural death with his release. The complaint can still push through at the prosecutorial level as long there is enough evidence that is worth looking into.

Silawan’s family must get the justice they deserve over her gruesome murder. And such justice must be immediate. Therefore, authorities must do everything to bring those responsible to court.

Witnesses to the crime reported to authorities that they saw at least three persons behind the crime. However, so far, authorities are only zeroing in on the 17-year-old who is reportedly the former boyfriend of the victim, as the identities of the other suspects remain a mystery.

Now, going after the other perpetrators seems to be a huge task for law enforcers. In spite of the huge reward for those who can give information leading to the capture of those responsible for the crime, the absence of strong evidence makes it hard for the assailants to be identified.

It’s really useless for authorities to just single out one suspect in their investigation when at least three persons were reported to be the perpetrators of Silawan’s murder. Therefore, they need to aggressively hunt down and arrest those at large.

Silawan was finally laid to rest and we do hope she gets the swift justice that is her due. She did not deserve such a ghastly death. As a young girl, she had plenty of dreams. But, unfortunately, there are no more dreams to achieve.