DOJ: 11 in Dacera case cleared of rape, homicide

MANILA, Philippines — The Makati Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the consolidated criminal cases filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against 11 suspects in connection with the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera in January last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday.

In a resolution dated Jan. 31, the fiscal’s office junked the complaint for rape with homicide lodged against the respondents for lack of probable cause.

Cleared of the charges were John Pascual dela Serna III, Rommel Galido, John Paul Halili, Jezreel Rapinan, Alain Chen, Mark Anthony Rosales, Reymar Englis, Louie Delima, Jamyr Cunanan, Eduardo Pangilinan III and Gregorio Angelo Rafael de Guzman.

The drug charges filed against Rosales and Galido were also dismissed for lack of evidence, according to the DOJ.

Government prosecutors said no traces of drugs such as shabu, Ecstasy, benzodiazepine, morphine or tetrahydrocannabinol were found on the remains of Dacera.

Her urine sample also tested negative for drugs, the Makati Prosecutor’s Office said.

The charges of perjury filed against the respondents were also dismissed as the NBI failed to show that the false statements about the alleged use of party drugs were material to the investigation of Dacera’s death.

The prosecutor’s office also junked the complaints for illegal detention, arbitrary detention and unlawful arrest filed by the respondents against Dacera’s mother Sharon as well as Makati policemen Cpl. Louie Lopez and S/Sgt. Jun Alimurong.

Dacera was found unconscious in the bathtub of a Makati hotel after a New Year’s Eve party with her friends on Jan. 1, 2021.

Closed-circuit television footage showed Dacera and the respondents going back and forth between rooms 2009 and 2007 of the City Garden Grand Hotel.

Based on the Philippine National Police medico-legal report, Dacera died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Her family believed that the flight attendant was drugged and sexually assaulted before she died.