Whoever are the mastermind and his cohorts on the gruesome rape-slay in 2004 in Panglao town are bound to develop goose bumps the moment they know that the Department of Justice has finally took cognizance of the celebrated crime. This developed over the week after it was learned that acting DOJ Secretary Agnes Devanadera has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the rape-murder of Vivian Dumaluan that happened shortly before the 2004 elections. The victim was a relative of former Panglao mayor Doloriech Dumaluan. The DOJ directive was precipitated by Resolution No. 108 of the Sangguniang Bayan adopted on September 4,2007 urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to investigate in the grim incident. Assistant Secretary Katrina Zialcita Alday forwarded the SB resolution to the DOJ for appropriate action. During a visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last September in Panglao, she was handed a copy of the SB resolution asking for her intervention in order to give justice to the hapless victim. It was reported in previous news accounts that the Panglao rape case may lead to the doorstep of the former Panglao chief executive after his brother identified as Pingmay Dumaluan was implicated by several witnesses in the gruesome crime.

The younger Dumaluan's possible involvement stemmed from an affidavit signed by one of the witnesses quoting him as saying amo ning duwa ni manong (it's our game). Manong here referred to the former mayor. The rape and murder of the teenager was one crime that shook the usually tranquil Panglao community when in took place in April 2004. The local elections then was a hotly-contested fight between Dumaluan who was then the challenger against the incumbent Benedicto Alcala. In the heat of the campaign, the murder of the Dumaluan girl was blamed on the camp of Alcala. It was even bruited around then that the allusion to Alcala's camp given the rape-slay contributed to the downfall of Alcala during that electoral exercise. However, Alcala got even with Dumaluan in the May 2007 elections, when he clobbered his 2004 tormentor in a lopsided electoral fight.