The Chop-Chop Lady

There is a pattern of crimes that has terrorized the Philippines. It’s known as “The Chop-Chop Lady” cases as the victims’ bodies are often found brutally dismembered.

The first recorded “chop-chop” case took place in the late 1960s when locals found body parts belonging to a young woman scattered across the city. Investigations into the body’s identity narrowed it down to a woman by the name of Lucila Lalu. Lalu was a businesswoman who moved from her hometown to Manila in hopes of finding success. By the age of 28, she had several ventures including a salon and a restaurant. It was an open secret that Lalu had several lovers, so when she suddenly disappeared one day, many of her family members and friends were not alarmed at first. But when the body parts were discovered, her lovers were immediately rounded up as suspects of the crime. One of them, Jose Luis Santiano, confessed to committing the crime but withdrew his statement a few days later. Santiano was ultimately released from the investigation after the National Bureau of Investigation received bomb threats to let the murder suspect go. Lalu’s case remains unsolved to this day, but it would not be the only “chop-chop” case to engross the nation. Decades later, Elsa Castillo became the next sensationalized “Chop-Chop Lady” and had several movies made based on her death. Most recently in 2017, 17-year-old student Mitzy Joy Balunsay became the latest victim of this pattern of crimes. These cases are all unrelated, but the pattern of dismembered victims continues to haunt the country as an unwanted trend.

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