One of the suspects charged by the Makati City police in relation to the alleged rape and killing of flight attendant Christine Dacera appealed for help for his and his companions’ legal defense.

Valentine Rosales posted on Twitter and Facebook on Saturday night, Jan. 9, that they are “struggling to finance a lawyer in assisting us in this situation (and) effectively defend us.”

“Any amount of donation will mean a lot (and) will be appreciated,” Rosales said.

The appeal seeking to “fund the truth” was liked and retweeted thousands of times as of  Sunday, Jan. 10.

During a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 7, Rosales, with three other suspects – Rommel Galido, John Pascual dela Serna III and Clark Rapinan – all denied that Dacera was raped and killed on Jan. 1 after their New Year’s Eve party at a hotel in Makati City.

They said they would not have any motivation to sexually abuse and kill her being gays whom the 23-year-old flight attendant trusted being her friends.

Rosales, in particular, addressed claims that gays’ are still males capable of committing rape especially when under the influence of alcohol. He said he would act like a man (paminta among gays) when sober but would turn sweet and like actress Kim Chiu once drunk.

“‘Pag bakla naimpluwensiyahan ng alcohol magiging lalaki. Ako po…paminta paminta, ‘pag nalasing na po ako nagiging pa-sweet na, nagiging Kim Chiu,” Rosales said during the press conference.

On their Facebook page “Fund the Truth,”  Rosales, Galido, Dela Serna and Rapinan posted quote cards. Rosales bared that he lost his job due to the incident and the coronavirus pandemic makes the situation harder for him to bear. They said they also worried about their safety as Sen. Manny Pacquiao and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Yap had offered a reward for the capture of supposed suspects in the case of Dacera.

Earlier, lawyer Mike Santiago, who represents the four suspects, also appealed for the withdrawal of the reward as his clients’ safety and security were being affected by the bounty.

NBI begins probe

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has summoned Rosales, Galido, Dela Serna, Rapinan, John Paul Halili, Gregorio de Guzman, Mark Anthony Rosales, Rey Englis, Louie de Lima, Jammyr Cunanan and Edward Madrid over the alleged rape and death of Dacera. They were asked to appear at the NBI today, Jan. 11, at 1 p.m.

NBI officer-in-charge Eric Distor told The Philippine STAR on Sunday that the Death Investigation Division issued the subpoenas to the 11 persons tagged as suspects by the Makati police as Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered the agency to step in.

Guevarra found the Makati police investigation “not thorough enough.”

National Capital Region Police Office chief Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. admitted that the filing of the charges was premature or “hilaw” (not yet ripe).

On Wednesday, Jan. 6, the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office ordered the release of Dela Serna, Galido and Halili from police custody and referred the case back to the law enforcers for further investigation.

Read more: ‘PNP’s Alleged Bungling Of Probe Won’t Weaken Christine Dacera Case’; Suspects Deny Charges

Distor also said the NBI also summoned Dacera’s records from the Makati Medical Center, where Dacera was taken by her friends and was declared dead on arrival.

The NBI forensic team also secured tissue samples from Dacera’s body for a second autopsy before she was laid to rest on Sunday at the Forest Lake Memorial Park in General Santos City, Distor disclosed.

Toxicology report

Danao said a toxicology report would be very important to establish the real cause of Dacera’s death. Toxicology is a field of science that helps investigators understand the harmful effects that chemicals, substances, or situations, can have on people, animals, and the environment.

But Danao admitted that it would already be difficult to do this as the body of Dacera had been embalmed.

“During the second autopsy, if that ever would be successful because she has been embalmed, the result of the toxicology is very important. Why? Because that result would shed light on why there was a sudden death,” Danao said in Filipino during an interview with “Now You Know,” an online civic media platform, on Saturday.

“It could be the consumption of a lot of alcohol. It could be because somebody induced something in her drinks. That is what we want to see here. That is what we want to determine,” he added.

Danao expressed hopes that there are still enough specimens that were taken from the embalmed body of Dacera so the truth would come out.

The Metro Manila police chief lamented the fact that the embalming happened before the autopsy.

“That is the sad part, we do not know if [a toxicology test was really done] because we are not sure if a blood sample was still taken for toxicology,” he said.

Danao added that there are a lot of uncertainties regarding the case, and that the absence of semen from the first medico legal report does not really shoot down the possibility that Dacera was raped.

“For me, even if there was no semen, it does not mean there was no rape…[The absence of semen] is not an indication. The mere act of penetration… is already considered rape, even the attempts,” he noted.

Danao conceded that there had been lapses on the side of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in investigating the matter.

“I admit that there were really lapses on this case. The tendency of the investigator, especially if a person was killed, is to automatically investigate and those with her during the last moments would be persons of interest,” he said.

“How can you say that this was rape and homicide? We cannot establish rape, how much more homicide?” he stressed.

Danao said it is important to have witnesses who will give their accounts of what happened.

Initial investigation and a medico legal report bared that Dacera died due to ruptured aortic aneurysm or breakage of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. But this was shunned by the family of the flight attendant, saying she was “raped” which led to her death.

The family called for an independent autopsy of Dacera’s body, but its result was not released to the public.

Irresponsible

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday slammed the authorities’ “irresponsible” handling of the case of Dacera.

Robredo, a lawyer, said it was irresponsible for authorities to prematurely declare a case “solved” amid ongoing investigation. It was PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas who said early last week that the case was solved following the arrests of the three suspects.

“For me, it’s too irresponsible to say that the case is closed without enough evidence. For me, it’s a big offense against the family of the victim, especially it’s not clear what caused her death,” she said in her weekly program over dzXL.

As a mother, Robredo said she understands the situation of Sharon Dacera, who is still seeking the truth behind her daughter’s death.

“It’s painful to lose a child, but it’s more painful not to know what really happened that led to her death,” she said.

Robredo underscored the need for careful investigation as bungling was not only a big offense against Dacera’s family but also to those who would be implicated without evidence.

She said the ones responsible for the death of Dacera must be punished to the full extent of the law but not through conclusions done without a credible investigation. She emphasized that people’s lives should not be ruined because of carelessness.

“Para sa akin…panlilinlang sa tao iyong ganoon (For me, it’s deception),” Robredo pointed out.

Robredo cited Guevarra’s order for the NBI to step into the probe and said the case should remind authorities to follow the protocols especially in handling crimes.

She said there would be “closure” on the part of Dacera’s family if the cause of her death would not be conclusively established.

Robredo also said it is dangerous for the suspects who would be declared guilty prematurely.

“Napaka-delikado kasi hindi maayos iyong imbestigasyon, tapos sinasabi mo na na ‘ito iyong mga guilty.’ Kung mayroon tayong death penalty, baka nasa death row, tapos hindi naman pala iyon ang nangyari. Napaka-delikado noon,” Robredo noted.

The suspects who had come out in the open said they took care of Dacera when she got drunk and vomited in the bathroom.

Her friend Galido said though that Dacera’s drink might have been spiked by a suspect outside their circle. Galido disclosed that Dacera told him that she suspected Mark Anthony Rosales of putting something into her drink.

Dacera’s kin, aided by the PNP, maintained she was raped due to bruises on her body. But Dacera’s friends said she got the injuries as they tried to put her on a wheelchair without a leg rest after she was found unconscious in the bathroom. Her friends said they tried to revive her.