While the beginning of 2021 may have not been easy for a lot of us, it started tragically for Mrs. Sharon Dacera. She received a phone call around noon, on January 1st, 2021, saying that her 23-year-old daughter, Christine Angelica Dacera was dead. It is unimaginable the amount of pain and shock Mrs. Dacera felt while hearing this devastating news.
Mrs. Dacera’s daughter, a healthy, flight attendant for Philippine Airlines (PAL), had gone to The City Garden Grand Hotel, located in Makati, the Philippines to celebrate the last day of 2020, with a group of friends. (1) https://www.youtube.com/embed/7zovwjeEPx8
Conflicting Stories
While is undoubtedly an extremely awful situation, what makes this story even more worrying is the not-so-clear causes that surrounded the death of Christine Dacera. The forensic report established that Ms. Dacera had died of natural causes, a ruptured aortic aneurysm, probably due to an excess intake of alcohol. However, the body of Christine Dacera had signs of bruises and lacerations. In the autopsy statement by the medico-legal team, these were not noted.
This inaccuracy in the circumstances leading to Christine Dacera’s death made her family believed that foul play was involved. A devastated Mrs. Sharon Dacera declared “For me, my daughter was raped.” (2)
A dreadful New Years Eve
A friend of Ms. Dacera, Rommel Galido declared that on January 1st, 2020, he woke up around 10 am, and found what he thought was Christine Dacera sleeping in the bathtub. He placed a blanket on her and went back to sleep. Later on, around noon, he went to check on her and observe that her lips and fingers were purple. She was not breathing, he immediately called for help. The hotel management came with a wheelchair and brought her downstairs to be picked up by the ambulance. Ms. Dacera was taken to the Makati Medical Center where she was declared dead before arrival.
The night before, Christine Dacera had arrived at the Hotel to meet with three friends to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Later on, they were joined by some others. The group was a total of 11 men, that occupied different rooms on the same floor. From the hotel security video footage, it was observed the group, together with Ms. Dacera coming and going from room to room drinking and laughing.
Lack of Evidence?
Initially, due to the signs of violence inflicted on Christine Dacera’s body, the police suspected she was killed, and provisionally charged the 11 men that partied with her. The group of men told police that they are gay and therefore incapable of committing the crime they are being accused of. Afterward, when the autopsy report stated an aneurysm as the cause of Christine Daceras’ death, the Philippine National Police (PNP) only hold on to three of the 11 original suspects. These were the ones that were Ms. Dacera’s friends.
To this, the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office said: “The pieces of evidence so far submitted are insufficient to establish that (Ms. Dacera) was sexually assaulted or raped”. Therefore, the three suspects were released from police detention, due to the lack of evidence.
Further Investigation
As a result of the PNP not conducting any further investigation in the Christine Dacera death case, due to lack of evidence. The Commission of Human Rights (CHR) announced that they will conduct their own investigation in the case of the death of the 23-year-old flight attendant. The CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Guia said “the violent death of Christine Dacera could not be considered “solved” until all the perpetrators had been held to account.” (3)
On the other hand, Mrs. Sharon Dacera, mother of Christine Dacera, has urged Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to enforce the search for justice in her daughter’s case.
I hope that the Commission of Human Rights investigation can bring some light to this case. I don’t know how helpful the intervention of President Rodrigo Duterte can be. He is famous for expressing obtuse opinions. His most recent one, women are not fit to run for the presidency, referring to his own daughter’s possibly running for office.
