2 girls killed in Caloocan

MANILA, Philippines - A 15-year-old girl and her nine-year-old cousin were found murdered in their family’s rented house in Dagat-dagatan, Caloocan City early morning yesterday.

Truck driver Jeffrey Coronado, 34, said he found the body of his daughter, Joanna Marie, a grade four student, in the bathroom. He said he saw the body of her cousin, Diana Rose Liza, in her room with her short pants pulled down past her knees. Coronado’s wife and Diana’s mother are sisters.

“My daughter has several stab wounds and has a gaping wound in the stomach while her cousin’s neck was almost cut off and she has also multiple wounds,” he said.

Chief Inspector Rodrigo Soriano, Caloocan City police investigation chief, said they are still waiting for autopsy results to determine whether the girls had been raped.

Coronado said he and his family live only a few blocks from Diana, who lives with another of his wife’s sisters since her parents are in Zamboanga. He said his daughter kept Diana, a second year high school student, company whenever she was alone in the house since her aunt works nights.

He said he checked on the girls at around 7 p.m. Saturday and left them with the door locked.

“At around 6 a.m., I prepared to cook rice but our stove went out of gas, so I told my six-year-old son to instead bring the pot to his cousin’s place but he came back running, claiming the house’s door was full of blood,” Coronado said.

When he checked, the door’s padlock had been destroyed and he found the bodies of the girls. He said that nothing was taken from the house.

The victims’ neighbors said they did not hear or see anything unusual Saturday night, but noted that there are many drug users in their village.

Coronado appealed to the authorities to arrest the girl’s killers and bring them to justice. Soriano said yesterday that they already have a suspect in the crime but refused to elaborate.