The Most Notorious Rape and Slay Cases in the Philippines

Warning: The following text contains sensitive content about crime and violence.

Every hour, one individual in the Philippines falls victim to rape, according to data from police records referenced by the Center for Women’s Resources in 2017. Regrettably, this statistic may represent only a fraction of the actual rape victims who are unable to speak out. A significant sixty percent of rape survivors do not report their assaults due to fear, trauma, and shame.

Rape has regrettably become a common occurrence in the Philippines, and it appears to have desensitized society, even though rape remains as horrific and revolting as it has always been. Yet, rape cases no longer shock us to the extent that they dominate daily headlines for months, perhaps due to their sheer frequency. There was a time when the victims' names were etched in our memories.

The following are a few of the most shocking and appalling rape and murder cases that have deeply affected the Philippines.

The Silawan Rape Case (2019)

In March 2019, in Lapu-Lapu City, Visayas, 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan asked her mother for permission to attend an evening church service. She was a member of the church ministry responsible for collecting donations from churchgoers. Her mother granted permission, expecting her daughter to return home after an hour. Unfortunately, she never did.

The following day, a girl of a similar age to Silawan was discovered in a field. Her face had been skinned to the bone, with her eyeballs still intact. She had suffered over 30 stab wounds, some of which were defensive wounds. Disturbing photos from the scene quickly spread on social media, revealing the stark whiteness of bone.

Identifying the victim proved difficult due to the mutilation of her face, but she was eventually identified as Christine through DNA analysis. Her mother was devastated.

Nearly a month later, the police arrested 42-year-old Renato Payupan Llenes, who confessed to the crime. Llenes had posed as someone else on social media to lure Silawan into meeting him. His obsession with Silawan turned to jealousy and rage when he learned about her relationships with other boys, ultimately leading to her murder.

Llenes also admitted to being inspired by the Momo Challenge, which encouraged children to commit crimes and self-harm. When asked where he learned the gruesome act of skinning a face down to the bone, he cited social media sites like YouTube and Facebook. Llenes had used scissors to carry out this horrific act.

Before Llenes confessed, the police had arrested a 17-year-old male suspect. However, Llenes came forward because his conscience tormented him, and he couldn't bear the thought of another person suffering the consequences of his crime.

Vizconde Massacre (1991)

The Vizconde Massacre remains one of the most high-profile rape and murder cases in the Philippines. It occurred on June 30, 1991, when three members of the Vizconde family were brutally murdered in their home in B.F. Homes, Parañaque.

The victims included Carmela Vizconde, 19, Jennifer Vizconde, 6, and their mother, Estrellita Vizconde, 49. The father, Lauro Vizconde, was away on a business trip in the U.S. Estrellita suffered thirteen stab wounds.

Carmela was raped before her murder, suffering 17 stab wounds, while Jennifer, a mere 6 years old, had 19 stab wounds. The nation was left in shock and disbelief. The case remained unsolved until 1995, when Jessica Alfaro stepped forward as a key witness.

Alfaro's testimony implicated individuals from some of the country's wealthiest and most powerful families. Among the accused were Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano II, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada, Joey Filart, and Artemio Ventura. Webb was the son of former senator Freddie Webb.

According to Alfaro, she was friends with the suspects and was present during a "drug session" when Hubert Webb allegedly decided to rape Carmela. Alfaro described how Webb followed Carmela into the dining room while she went outside for a smoke. From there, she witnessed Lejano and Ventura retrieve a knife from the kitchen and murder the mother.

Alfaro further claimed that after Estrellita's murder, Webb proceeded to rape Carmela, but Jennifer woke up and saw what was happening to her sister. Jennifer bravely tried to defend her sister, biting Webb in the process. In response, Webb threw Jennifer against the wall and repeatedly stabbed her. Other witnesses corroborated Alfaro's testimonies.

Webb's legal team argued against Alfaro's reliability, citing her admission of intoxication during the events of the murder. Almost a decade later, in January 2000, the court ruled Webb and his co-accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

However, in December 2010, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court's decision, citing a failure to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Webb was acquitted and released from prison. This decision deeply saddened Lauro Vizconde, who had dedicated his life to advocating for justice for his family. Lauro passed away in 2016.

The Chiong Murders (1997)

The Chiong murder case remains one of the most contentious rape and murder cases in the Philippines due to its high-profile nature and the various rumors surrounding it.

On July 17, 1997, sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong went missing. According to the prosecution, the sisters were waiting for a ride home when they were forcibly taken into a car near the Ayala Center in Cebu at around 10 p.m. on July 16, 1997.

The Chiong family claimed that Marijoy and Jacqueline were taken to a house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, where they were raped. Subsequently, they were transported to Carcar, where they were raped again. Two days later, Marijoy's battered and raped body was discovered at the bottom of a ravine in Carcar, while Jacqueline's whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

The prosecution identified Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga as the mastermind behind the crime. In 2004, Larrañaga and six other men were convicted of raping and murdering the Chiong sisters.

However, Larrañaga had a solid alibi, supported by school records, classmates, teachers, and even an exam he had taken, placing him in Quezon City during the entire time of the crime, rather than in Cebu. In 2011, the documentary "Give Up Tomorrow" shed light on the mishandling of the trials and the unreliability of the state witness.

Larrañaga holds dual citizenship as a Spanish-Filipino. He was extradited to Spain in 2009 and sought help from the European Union for his case. Spain's royal family and the Spanish government lobbied for his innocence. However, his co-accused remain in prison.