Iligan City government puts up P100,000 bounty for suspect in girl’s rape-slay
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 14 June) – The Iligan City government is offering a ₱100,000 reward for any information that can lead to the identification and arrest of the suspect in the death of an 8-year old girl who was believed to have been raped before she was killed.
The child had been reported missing since late afternoon of June 5 and was found dead on June 9 in an advanced stage of decomposition near a creek in a remote, densely vegetated area of Purok 13, Mabuhay, Barangay Buru-un.
A concerned citizen reported sensing a foul odor in the area, prompting authorities to respond. The child’s body was found lying on top of a rock in a creek.
Family members identified the victim as Cristal Jane Arcasa, a Grade 1 student who was last seen around 5:00 p.m. on June 5, crossing a street in Timoga, Barangay Buru-un, after bathing by the shore with other children. She was wearing a yellow and green striped shirt, white pajama pants, and slippers.
She never made it home that night.
The Scene of the Crime Operations unit of the Iligan police recovered the body and conducted a forensic examination. On June 10, autopsy results confirmed that Cristal Jane died from asphyxia by strangulation and showed signs of sexual abuse, according to Police Major Zandrex S. Panolong, spokesperson and deputy chief of the City Community Affairs and Development Unit.
“We will provide the necessary course of action and ensure that justice is properly pursued,” said Iligan City Mayor Frederick Siao in an official statement following the release of the autopsy results.
Mayor Siao and his son, newly elected city councilor Derrick Siao, have also extended financial assistance to the grieving family.
In an earlier interview with DXIC, Cristal’s father, Romel Tornea Arcasa, recounted their desperate search. Along with relatives and neighbors, they searched Cristal Jane’s usual play areas and the interior parts of Buru-un, but only found her body four days later.
Her mother, Marriel Canoy Delector, lamented that instead of enrolling her daughter for the new school year, they would be burying her on Saturday, June 14, at Villaverde Cemetery following a funeral mass at Saint Michael Cathedral at 1:00 p.m.
Delector had used social media to seek help, appealing to neighbors and friends in posts filled with prayers, asking for her daughter’s safe return as a gift for her 26th birthday.
“In pain and lamentation,” she said, “finding you again is indeed my birthday gift—but we will be burying you on my birthday, too, so I will always be reminded of the suffering you endured.” (Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews)
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