Cops: ‘Gang rape’ suspect still in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Police are suspecting that one of the three men who allegedly gang raped a 21-year-old woman in Sambag Dos, Cebu City is still in Cebu after he tried to settle the case with the victim.

Chief Inspector David Señor, the outgoing acting chief of Fuente Police Station, said they were informed that a man who is in his 20s, who was later identified by the victim as one of those who allegedly raped her at a boarding house last Monday, already went home to Leyte after the incident.

However, Señor said they received a report from the victim’s aunt that the suspect attempted to negotiate the case with her (aunt) days after he was named as one of those who raped her niece.

“Ang storya niuli na daw siya sa Leyte but ni-text daw siya sa tagtungod sa biktima ug ganahan makigkita aron ma-settle ang kaso,” Señor said, adding that the victim’s family refused to come up with a settlement.

Señor said this led them to the presumption that the hotel and restaurant management student is still in Cebu and has not gone back to his hometown. It could also be possible that the one negotiating with the victim may be the lawyer of the suspect, added Señor.

The victim was allegedly raped by three men who brought her to a boarding house in Barangay Sambag 2 Monday morning after drinking with her cousins and friends in one of the clubs along General Maxilom Avenue the previous night.

 The second suspect was an HRM student in one of the local universities and is reportedly a basketball player in the college department.

The 48-year-old caretaker of the boarding house, Peter Bendanillo, was also positively identified by the victim as the last one who raped her. He was arrested in a hot pursuit operation.

The third suspect, however, remains at large and unidentified as of press time.

The police filed a rape complaint against Bendanillo, the HRM student, and the unidentified suspect before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor on Wednesday.

Bendanillo was given 15 days to submit his counter-affidavit.

Bendanillo, who is currently detained at Fuente Police Station, earlier denied his involvement in the crime.

Meanwhile, the other two suspects at large will also undergo preliminary investigation after being summoned by the prosecutor.

 Meanwhile, Señor said he will advise the victim to undergo stress debriefing with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“Traumatized gihapon siya,” said the police official. —/NSA (FREEMAN)