Two charged in Vizcaya coed murder

SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya — Police here yesterday formally charged two persons, one of them a suspected drug pusher here, for their alleged involvement in the gruesome killing of a 14-year-old high school student last week.

Meanwhile, Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena, who joined thousands of mourners here during yesterday’s interment of Jhoname Menor, said the young girl’s killing was "extremely barbaric and senseless."

Chief Inspector James Afalla, this town’s police chief, said two of the six suspects whom police invited for "questioning" a day after Jhoname’s killing on April 17, were already charged with murder before the Municipal Trial Court here.

The police officer said the suspects charged, whose names were withheld pending the issuance of their arrest warrants, were identified by at least two witnesses as two of those who inflicted 18 stab wounds on Jhoname on the night of Maundy Thursday.

Two of these stab wounds, Afalla said, were inflicted on Jhoname’s throat. Aside from this, her body also bore several contusions and abrasions, a sign that she was extremely mauled before she was stabbed to death.

Jhoname, a third year high school student of a Catholic school here, who was to play a role during a reenactment of Christ’s passion the following day, Good Friday, was already lifeless when her blood-drenched body arrived at a hospital here.

Her assailants, Afalla said, probably blocked her way while she was on way home from a nearby sari-sari store where she was asked to buy something after taking her supper, and then mercilessly stabbed her.

Afalla said the suspects, among them the victim’s neighbors, could be high on drugs because of the manner the coed was slain.

Villena angrily criticized authorities before thousands of emotionally-charged mourners who crowded the Catholic Church here where Jhoname was receiving the last rites.

Villena’s statement was directed to local officials whom he criticized for their alleged ineptness in safeguarding the lives of their constituents.

The bishop, who almost broke down in tears while delivering his eulogy, said police and local officials must be held accountable for this barbaric and senseless incident.

"As bishop of this diocese, it is my duty to defend human lives at all cost. For your part, you (local officials) were not elected to socialize. You were there to protect us," said Villena, who had to skip a meeting with the Presidential Management Staff yesterday to join the funeral.