Autopsy confirms sexual assault in Lambunao girl’s death

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A 7-year-old girl found inside a sack at her home in Lambunao, Iloilo, showed signs of sexual abuse, according to police.

The Lambunao Municipal Police Station said the finding was based on an autopsy conducted by medico-legal officer Dr. Owen Libaquen.

Captain Jose Winston Biadog, Lambunao police chief, said the autopsy also indicated that the child, known by the alias “Bebe,” died of strangulation.

Biadog and his team met with Brigadier General Josefino Ligan, Western Visayas police chief, on Tuesday evening for a case conference.

Ligan ordered the creation of a special investigation team to support local police efforts.

Biadog said the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Office and investigators from other police stations in the 3rd District would assist in the probe.

He added that they might also request help from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Regional Intelligence Division 6 if necessary.

Biadog said they had identified six persons of interest, all residents of Barangay Tampucao, where the crime took place.

Two of them are relatives of the victim.

“What we got for now are circumstantial evidences,” Biadog said.

Police identified the persons of interest based on their proximity to the scene and background checks on those previously involved in similar offenses.

Two of the suspects reportedly have prior records of sexual abuse.

Biadog said police had collected biological samples from the suspects, which would be sent to the Philippine National Police national headquarters for DNA testing.

Bebe was found inside a sack by her 72-year-old grandmother, Dolsora, around 3:15 p.m. on November 8.

She was discovered inside the comfort room at the back of their house in Barangay Tampucao.

The grandmother said she last saw Bebe after lunch earlier that day when the girl said she was returning home to her father’s house about 30 meters away.

Bebe’s father worked in the nearby Misi village and usually left the child in the care of his mother while he was away.

Her mother had been living separately with another family.

When Bebe failed to return by mid-afternoon, Dolsora searched the house and eventually found the sack in the comfort room.

Neighbors helped bring the girl to a hospital, where she was declared dead shortly after arrival.

Authorities said the case had deeply alarmed residents of Lambunao, a normally quiet upland town in central Iloilo.

The investigation continues as police await DNA results and pursue leads to identify the perpetrator.