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Cell Phone of the killed Slovak tourists still missing, maybe the key to pinning the perpetrators- Police
Boracay Island, Malay Aklan- – The police are still searching for the missing cell phone of the sexually assaulted Sliovak national who was found dead at an abandoned chapel here.
ย Police Lt. Charlie Banglagan, commander of the Malay Municipal Police Station said that despite the missing cellphone, the investigation is almost completed.
The Police Regional Office-Western Visayas has created a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) to focus on solving the case. While the victim’s cell phone is considered vital to the investigation, the investigators are currently maximizing the affidavits of the two POIs and the DNA test.
“Currently, the police are still awaiting the DNA result extracted from the victim to determine the suspect. Once we receive the result, we will now pursue filing the caseย against the persons of interest in the court,” he said,
Based on the initial investigation, witnesses saw the victim walking alone constantly looking at her cellphone.
Banglagan added that one of the police is still looking for one POI who was believed to have molested the victim before she was killed. One of the POI’s confessed her knowledge after the police arrested him for selling illegal drugs.
Seized from the suspect in a police buy-bust operation were six sachets of shabu and P12,000 marked money.
Malay Councilor Alan Palma saidย that because of what had happened, they are now crafting an ordinance for an integrated Incident Management System in Malay.
Soojin Kim, president of the Korean Residents Association in Malay and Boracay told the Rappler Wednesday that they had sent their statement to the police investigators.
“Some South Koreans abroad have expressed their concern about what happened. The South Koreans wanted to be assured that the perpetrators would be convicted so that they would not be able to be back in Boracay. This way, we could be assured that Boracay is a safe destination,” she said.
She added that they expect a surge of South Korean tourists to come to Boracay by June to August.
Jason Talapian, the Barangay Captain of Barangay Balabag Boracay said the crime scene has now been restricted to both tourists and residents to prevent similar things from happening.
Reports from the Malay Tourism office indicate a slight declineย in tourists coming to Boracay from March 1-15, 2025.
The tourism office said that someย 81, 156 foreign and local tourists visitedย Boracay from March 1-15. Some 61, 115 of these are local tourists, while local foreign tourists registered 16, 494. At leastย 1, 047 were overseas Filipino workers.
The figure is slightly lower compared to March 1-15 , 2024ย where both foreign and local tourists registeredย 87, 377.
The tourism office added that they are still studying whether the news of the killing of the Slovakian national affects the tourism industry of Boracay.
