Lavender-and-white funeral march for slain UPLB student

Despite the hot weather, friends and relatives took part in a lavender-and-white themed funeral march for Given Grace Cebanico, the University of the Philippines Los Baños student who was brutally killed near the UPLB campus in Laguna last week. Many of Given Grace's friends, schoolmates and loved ones wore lavender, the victim’s favorite color, and white at the funeral march in Binangonan in Rizal, radio dzBB's Glen Juego reported. The march to the Santo Rosario Memorial Park slowed traffic at the Kalawaan Highway in Binangonan, the report said. Several participants in the march brought lavender and white balloons with them, it added.

Upon arrival at the memorial park, only Given Grace's relatives would be allowed inside. Given Grace's brutalized body was found near the campus last week. Police said there were indications she may have been sexually abused. Police have arrested a bank security guard and a tricycle driver in connection with the crime. For her part, Given Grace's mother Marlene made a new call for justice and asked authorities, including police, to secure schools so other parents would not feel her grief. — KBK, GMA News