Congressman claims Barbers clan behind rape charges

The powerful Barbers clan in Surigao is behind the Supreme Court’s revival of the July 1995 attempted rape charges against him, Surigao del Norte Rep. Francisco Matugas claimed yesterday.

“I know who is behind that case, the Barbers (family). They warned me they would do everything to destroy me. (After) my last term as governor... I decided to run (for) congressman. The same thing happened this election, I won against a Barbers. They are just mad at me,” he said.

In an interview with reporters, the lawmaker feigned innocence about the charges of Nace Sue Buan, an employee of the capitol when Matugas was still governor in July 1995, who accused him of sexual advances when they attended a conference in Manila.

“I don’t want to talk to them anymore (the victim and her family), because documents will show she was never in Manila on that date (July 1995),” he added.

Matugas has denied the attempted rape charges, insisting that he was never billeted at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City and that his tight schedule would not allow him to be at the scene of the alleged crime. 

But the Barbers family, led by former Surigao del Norte congressman and now Gov. Robert “Ace” Barbers, denied that politics was the motivation for the case, which the complainant filed in May 2001, or six years after the incident took place.

“No member of the Barbers family was with Matugas when he allegedly committed the rape. So why is he blaming us and dragging our family into his own mess?” Barbers retorted.

“Politics was never involved when he allegedly tried to rape his victim, so why will he say that the case is politically motivated?” the governor added. “It is clear from the records that the crime was not committed by any member of my family, but by Matugas alone.”

Barbers was nevertheless happy with the SC decision that paved the way for the indictment of Matugas. “I am elated by the decision of the SC because justice is finally given a chance to be served.”

According to the governor, Matugas’ claim that this case “is his battle against the Barbers of Surigao is insanely illogical, though very much welcome.”

“He should face his ghost head-on because he alone brought this upon himself,” he said.

“Stop crying like a boy and face your problems like a man and stop blaming politics for your woes,” Barbers advised his political rival.

The SC, through its first division headed by Chief Justice Reynato Puno, ordered last Aug. 7 the prosecution of Matugas, reversing the September 2003 decision of the Court of Appeals that absolved the lawmaker of any criminal liability.

“The CA had erred in reversing its findings at this embryonic state of the proceedings,” wrote SC Justice Cancio Garcia, who agreed with the findings of the justice secretary that there exists “probable cause” to hold Matugas accountable.

The complainant Buan decided to resign from her work at the provincial capitol right after the incident took place in 1995.

After six long years, she finally mustered enough courage to file the case in May 2001, which was lodged at the Pasay City prosecutor’s office, where her mother executed an affidavit that corroborated her complaint.

Matugas denied the charges in June 2001. 

The fiscal dismissed the complaint in July 2001, which forced the complainant to elevate the case to the justice secretary who, in turn, overturned the decision in February 2002 and ordered Matugas’ indictment.

Matugas sought a DOJ reconsideration but lost. He later elevated the case to the CA, which ruled in his favor in September 2003.