Justice still pending for Hayskulana’s killing

By Paulo DS Papa

NAGA CITY --- Family, friends, classmates, and the entire Camarines Sur National High School community continue to cry for justice that remains elusive for Roselle Bandojo, the 17-year-old student who went missing and was later found dead in July 2023.

To recall, on the evening of July 24, 2023, Bandojo went to a convenience store at the corner of Peñafrancia Avenue in Barangay Peñafrancia, Naga City, to buy food. CCTV footage showed her walking home to Acacia Street in the same barangay—her last known appearance alive.

She was missing for four days until authorities discovered her decomposing body in an abandoned lot located at the corner of the same street, but already within the neighboring barangay of Liboton.

On August 25 of the same year, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Naga City Police Office submitted the necessary documents to the City Prosecutor’s Office for the filing of a robbery with homicide case against 23-year-old pedicab driver Enzo Purisima. He was arrested on December 14, 2023, during an anti-illegal drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Peñafrancia.

However, the city prosecutor has not proceeded with filing the case in court due to insufficient evidence directly linking Purisima to Bandojo’s death. This legal impasse prompted The Isarog, the official student publication of Camarines Sur National High School, to post on social media last July 29, 2024: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

A year ago, Bandojo’s family and the NBI filed a petition for review before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila. The victim’s father, Roger Bandojo, who remains devastated by his daughter’s brutal death, said that the petition has already been evaluated—but the outcome is still pending.

He appeals to government agencies and public officials for help in fast-tracking the long-overdue delivery of justice for Roselle.