Account of Incident:
At around 6:30 in the evening of 4 March 2009, Rebelyn M. Pitao was at the tricycle terminal in Bago Aplaya getting a ride home. She was the first to board the tricycle driven by Danny E. Pelicano, occupying one of the seats at the back of the tricycle. Two men joined her, one sat in front while the other one joined her at the back, facing her. The men told the driver to go ahead; they would just pay for the fare of the vacant seat. But before he could drive away, a woman arrived and joined them, sitting beside the man in the front.
Account of Incident:
At around 6:30 in the evening of 4 March 2009, Rebelyn M. Pitao was at the tricycle terminal in Bago Aplaya getting a ride home. She was the first to board the tricycle driven by Danny E. Pelicano, occupying one of the seats at the back of the tricycle. Two men joined her, one sat in front while the other one joined her at the back, facing her. The men told the driver to go ahead; they would just pay for the fare of the vacant seat. But before he could drive away, a woman arrived and joined them, sitting beside the man in the front.
At about 300 meters away fron the terminal, in the dark portion of the crossing of Bago Gallera de Oro Subdivision, a white van was parked at the left side of the road and two men quickly blocked the tricycle. They pulled Danny off the seat and ordered him to drop to the ground. One of the men told him not to run or he will be shot. But Danny run back to the terminal as fast as he could to call for help. The other woman passenger was also able to run, leaving Rebelyn behind, held by the men and forcefully pushed inside the waiting van. The two men who were in the tricycle joined the men in the van. They fled in an unknown direction.
Danny said that the men may be from out of town because they did not look familiar. He reported the incident to the police.
At around 6:30 in evening the following day, Rebelyn’s body was found in the river in Purok 5, Brgy. San Isidro, Carmen, Davao del Norte. She was found with her mouth covered with packing tape, her pants partially pulled down and her underwear missing.
Based of the initial findings of the autopsy conducted by the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) Dr.Tomas Dimaandal, Jr., Rebelyn’s eyes were badly bruised and bleeding that may be due to a blow from a hard object. She had a 3-centimeter ligature mark in the neck. She sustained 5-stab wounds (possible weapon ice pick): 2 above the left breast, one of which hit the lungs; two wounds under the left breast, one of which pierced through the liver and another one in the diaphragm which also hit the liver. She had lacerations around her genital area which maybe caused by the insertion of a hard object. Traces of blood were also found but maybe due to the embalming fluids, no traces of sperm were detected.
At the time she was found, she was almost 24-hours dead which could mean that she was killed right after her abduction.
Rebelyn’s abduction and eventual execution is a blatant violation of the International Humanitarian Law that clearly specifies that family members of an armed group party to the conflict who are not combatants and do not participate in the armed conflict are considered civilian.