Police: College student found dead in Bicol

Less than a month after a female college student was robbed, sexually molested and killed in Laguna, another college student was found dead near her home in Albay province early Wednesday. Albay police chief Senior Superintendent William Macavinta did not name the victim but said she was a 19-year-old third-year student at Bicol University in Legazpi City. "Parang pinalo siya sa mukha para di makasigaw. Nawalan siya ng malay. Parang inabangan doon at ang lugar na pinagyarihan [ay sa] may kawayanan," Macavinta said in an interview on dzBB radio. The victim was a dean's lister, he said. He said the victim told her mother at 6 p.m. Tuesday she was to go to her aunt's house. But her grandmother began to worry when she failed to return home at 9 p.m. Macavinta said the girl's stepfather reported early Wednesday morning that he saw the girl's body near the bamboo trees. "Ang investigation natin nakababa ang underwear... half-naked na siya (Our investigation showed her underwear was pulled down and she was half-naked)," he said. Macavinta said they are following up leads on who killed the girl. For now, he said they are not discounting any angle, hinting the police may invite the stepfather to shed more light on the incident. Only last month, police in Laguna arrested a bank security guard and a tricycle driver for the abduction and brutal killing of 19-year-old University of the Philippines Los Baños student Given Grace Cebanico. Cebanico's body was found near the UPLB area last October, handcuffed and gagged, with a gunshot wound to the head and bruises on the body. Police at the time also found indications she was sexually molested. — RSJ, GMA News