REBELYN'S DEATH - A CRIME OF PASSION

Rebelyn's body when discovered by a local farmer in a ditch in Barangay San Isidro in Carmen, Davao Del Norte.







The New People's Army has tagged the military as the killer of Rebelyn Pitao to supposedly hurt her father. This allegation sounds a bit absurd since the military is not anything like the Italian mafia we've learned from movies which is known to carry out such acts against someone who erred against their leader. The military can sometimes make mistakes - like misencounters and miscalculating the location of their targets - or a few of its mercenary members may commit out-of-the-box operations like the so-called extrajudicial kilings but I don't think it will not go down to the nefarious level of the infamous mafia since logic dictates that it is better to capture the real target rather than his family member which would only be time consuming and has very dire consequences for the AFP.

Don't get me wrong. I am not a defender of the military but was merely assessing the facts as I've heard it. The police authorities are looking at only two posible suspects, the military and the NPA themselves. If this goes on, the case will not be solved since the death of Commander Parago's daughter could very well be a classic case of what we call "crime of passion".

Rebelyn's body when discovered by a local farmer in a ditch in Barangay San Isidro in Carmen, Davao Del Norte bore five stab wounds apparently caused by a thin sharp object, was gagged, partially naked and showed signs that her genitals also had cuts "possibly caused by a hard object". The state of her body, with the three stab wounds directly aimed at her left breast, clearly showed that her killer personally knew her and wanted to really hurt her. It was not out of hatred for her father that she was killed. It was because of very intense jealousy that Rebelyn suffered such a gruesome fate in the hands of her killer.

If Rebelyn was killed because of her father, her killers would not have stabbed her five times nor would they have wasted their time in dramatics such as first abducting her and leaving her in a ditch to be later found. It was planned crime as evidenced by the white van bearing an inexistent plate number. It was not intended at hurting Commander Parago since he has been notorious rebel ever since 1987 and if there really was an effort or order to kill him then the military would have carried it out before when he was incarcerated for more than a year- easily within reach and something that is easier to implement and that would have been less problematic for the AFP leadership. Police authorities then should look at this angle to give justice to Rebelyn. Looking at the incident either as military-initiated or as a NPA directed killing, in all probability, will only slim down Rebelyn's chances of getting a well deserve justice.