A couple of weeks ago, an advertising executive was found dead in Cavite—though she wasn’t raped, she was asphyxiated, stabbed and robbed of her valuables.
My parents panicked, printed out an article and gave a lecture on the dangers of staying out late. I thought that was the last I’d hear of it. As it turns out, I was wrong.
The murder of Kristelle “Kae” Davantes has been discussed for weeks now, a natural reaction people have when devastating news occurs. The attention it’s been getting strikes me as out of the ordinary, however—the fact that a murder happened in crime-laden Metro Manila isn’t surprising.
Aside from the shocking loss of life, perhaps a reason the case is such big news is because it hit so close to home. Davantes was last seen out with her friends at Bonifacio Global City, an area many Ateneans frequent; her job isn’t so different from the ones we hope to get when we graduate. The incident reminds us of what we’re always trying to forget: That we aren’t untouchable. Violence and crime can happen to anyone.
Nevertheless, the public and media attention that the case has received appears to be adding pressure on our officials to get to the bottom of it. Since the incident, Davantes’ car was found in Las Piñas, the President offered two million pesos to anyone with information, and three of the five suspects have been found. But in spite of the thorough investigation and rapid progression of the case, I’m doubtful that true justice will ever be served.
After one of those involved in the Davantes case confessed to his crime, Davantes’ uncle, Vince Davantes, expressed their family’s faith in the country’s law enforcement. “Andoon pa rin naman faith natin sa law enforcement. Itong development kasi, isipin mo 14 days lang, malaking bagay. Malaki ang boost sa morale (We have faith in our law enforcement. This development, which happened in just 14 days, is a huge boost to our morale),” he said in a statement to the press.
Unfortunately, I can’t say that I share the Davantes family’s faith—crime in the Philippines never seems to end well for those involved.
The murder of film critic Alexis Tioseco and his girlfriend in 2009, for example, still hasn’t been resolved. Though suspects have been identified and a one-million-peso reward was offered in 2011, the people responsible for their deaths haven’t been apprehended. A bit closer to home, an Atenean was mugged near the Katipunan LRT station a couple of months ago. The perpetrators were never caught, as the police officers, MMDA and security guards in the area didn’t know what to do during the situation.
While I would love to say that this smooth investigation has restored my faith in our justice system, there is a nagging sense of foreboding that we’ll still be hearing news of Davantes’ murder sometime next year. If nothing goes wrong now, then something will surely go wrong during the proceedings.
Kae Davantes’ murder was horrific—it jolted us out of the little bubble of comfort that keeps us insisting, “That will never happen to me.” But above all else, her death is horrifying not only because of the loss of a life, but because that loss may never be brought to justice.
