The Viral Case Of Christine Dacera: Death Of A Stewardess At New Year's Day

01/01/2021

New Year's Eve is a day celebrated all over the world, even amid the 'COVID-19' coronavirus. Welcoming the New Year's Day of 2021, people were partying and staying up late.

In Manila, Philippines, people were also celebrating.

Christine Angelica Faba Dacera, a flight attendant for the Philippine Airlines subsidiary PAL Express, was with her friends in City Garden Grand Hotel Makati, a four star hotel in Metro Manila, to celebrate the change of year with her co-workers.

She asked her mother for permission, and it was granted. Dacera was partying, and things were looking good, despite the lack of health protocols.

That, until she was declared "dead on arrival" at around 12:25 p.m. (PHT) after she was rushed to Makati Medical Center.

Dacera was only 23, and her case was initially reported as rape and homicide.

Her case went viral on social media and got widespread attention as a result of suspicious circumstances which appeared to contradict the findings of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Christine Dacera
Christine Dacera when she was on duty, wearing her PAL Express uniform.

It began in Manila, at City Garden Grand Hotel, where Christine Dacera was with 12 of her friends, all of whom were men, spending and celebrating their time for the New Year together.

These men were said to be Dacera's colleagues.

It was Rommel Galido who first decided to rent a room as Rey Ingles, Louie de Lima, John Paul dela Serna, and Clark Rapinan. Dela Serna reportedly checked in earlier that day. Dacera followed around noon.

Other followed suit in the succeeding hours.

Galido had also invited Gregorio de Guzman, Valentine Rosales, Mark Anthony Rosales, Jammyr Cunanan, and Eduard Madrid.

The last man, John Paul Halili, who was reportedly to be the hotel's manager, joined them later that night.

Past midnight at News Year's Day, Dacera managed to call her family, sending them a Happy New Year greeting, and to also inform them about the ongoing celebration she and her friends are having at the Makati hotel. Her mother Sharon who received the call, acknowledged.

While most of what happened, happened behind closed doors of the hotel, CCTV caught some footage of what happened in the corridor.

Dacera was seen briefly kissing a guy wearing a cap, later identified as Valentine Rosales, before entering a room at 2:52 a.m. At 3:22 a.m., she was seen interacting with another man in an adjacent room on the right side of the corridor, as two other men walked past them.

Three others from one end of the hallway were also seen.

At 4:13 a.m., things started looking suspicious, as Dacera was seen unconscious, carried by Dela Serna to the first room.

This was the last time Dacera was seen alive.

City Garden Grand Hotel Makati, a four star hotel in Metro Manila
City Garden Grand Hotel Makati, a four star hotel in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Staying up late and drunk, people were wasted.

At roughly noon on January 1, Dacera was found in a bathtub in room 2207.

It was Galido who found her.

Because he thought that she was sleeping, wasted, he brought blankets and pillows, and then left her.

In the afternoon, he returned to the bathroom, but saw Dacera turning blue and not breathing.

Galido quickly alerted de Guzman and Dela Serna.

The three asked for help, and the hotel management tried to revive her through cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but failed. The hotel advised them to rush her to the Makati Medical Center, where she was declared dead on arrival.

When the hospital reported Dacera's death to the police, other men at the hotel were already gone.

Christine Dacera drunk
A photo of Christine Dacera when she was drunk, and the bathtub with blankets and pillows.

In an autopsy performed at Rizal Funeral Homes in Pasay City, led by medico-legal officer Police Major Michael Nick Sarmiento, it was revealed that Dacera had cuts at her thighs, contusions on her knees and ankles, and many other suspicious scratches and wounds.

There were no signs of her being choked or beaten on the head were found.

However. sperm was found in her genitalia, suggesting that Dacera had sexual intercourse prior to her death.

Dacera was pronounced dead due to aortic aneurysm rupture.

Aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the Aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the heart through the chest and torso.

This part of the human body can dissect or rupture. If the force of the blood is too high, the pressure can rupture the artery wall, or bursting completely to cause a fatal internal bleeding.

There can be many causes of aortic aneurysm rupture, and they include smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, hardened arteries, tissue disorder, and also genetic. It can also be caused by drugs and substances that temporarily increase blood pressure.

It was New Year's Eve, and Dacera was drunk.

At the same time, her body had bruises and there were indications that she was abused.

Makati Police Chief Colonel Harold Depositar initially reported her case as a "rape-slay."

Police quickly said she had been raped and murdered, arresting the three men who came with her to the hospital.

But the men were then released.

This happened because, the focus of the case changed after post-mortem findings on the incident, which indicated that the cause of death was "consistent" with what was previously reported as ruptured aortic aneurysm.

What's more, the autopsy concluded that Dacera's heart weighed 500 grams, meaning that it was larger than the normal 300 grams, suggesting an apparently undiagnosed hypertension.

The police stated that the cause of her death could have been natural.

The police also revealed that the sachet that was earlier found in the hotel room only contained table salt and not crystal meth or any other party drug.

It was on January 5, 2021, that the PNP declared Dacera's case "solved."

This followed the identification of several suspects, and after the PNP Chief General Debold Sinas threatened to hunt down every single one of the suspects if they did not surrender themselves in three days after the warning.

Dacera autopsy report
Dacera's autopsy report showed that the cause of her death was "ruptured aortic aneurysm."
Dacera autopsy report
Dacera's autopsy report on genital showed that her labia were swollen. In her stomach, "blackish fluid" was present.

The public claimed that the investigation was "botched" due to the lack of evidence and competence.

Her family disputed the police's report.

Most notably, this was because the initial police reports were missing details and had shown conflicting reports on the matter.

What's more, the report about traces of semen that were found in Dacera's body, was not previously indicated in the medico-legal report.

And the injuries on her legs and arms, as well as her remains, should be enough to prove a probable cause for rape.

Her family believes that Dacera was drugged, which led to her rape and murder.

What made it even more suspicious was that, de Guzman, one of the three suspects, was quoted saying "every one" of the 11 men were gay. He added that Dacera was "cherished" by the group - who had partied with her at the hotel that night.

"My impression of her is she likes to hang out with us LGBT members," he said. "She's comfortable with us."

Dacera kissing
Dacera was caught kissing one of the men on CCTV, when all the men said they were gay.

The family has also filed a complaint alleging gross negligence and gross incompetence against a police medical-legal officer for "irregular and inaccurate" submission of a report and death certificate regarding Dacera's death.

Following the incompetence and mixed up, an order has been made to remove Makati Police Chief Colonel Harold Depositar for his handling of a probe into the suspected gang rape and murder of the flight attendant.

During the case, hashtags like #ChristineDacera, #JusticeForChristineDacera, protectdrunkgirls were trending.

Senator Manny Pacquiao offered a reward of $10,400 for information related to the death. The famous boxer who is at this time tipped to run for president in 2022, said the case is another example of why death penalty should be revived in the Philippines.

Christine Dacera was born in Davao City, to then pursued a degree in communications from the University of Philippines. Before becoming a flight attendant, she was a former runner-up Miss Silva Davao 2017 and finalist in Mutya ng Davao 2019.

The Philippine Department of Tourism stated that the City Garden Grand Hotel has violated COVID-19 protocols by admitting guests for leisure in a hotel that has been designated as a quarantine facility.

Further reading: Influencer From Ukraine Died From COVID-19 After Claiming The Virus A Hoax