CEBU CITY -- A criminal complaint for qualified seduction and rape was filed Monday against a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Central Visayas “asset”, with the 17-year-old complainant narrating how she was taken advantage of with promises of being sent to college for free.

“Deep inside, I felt really like a prostitute,” the complainant said in her affidavit complaint to City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon. “I wanted to end my life desperately.”

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But Robert Yee denied the charge in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.

He said the complaint was in retaliation for the one he filed last September 23, after the girl and her elder sister were entrapped, arrested and charged by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Intelligence Division-Central Visayas for extortion.

The complaint, which has since been elevated into a criminal case but downgraded to “light threats” before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), described how the complainant’s elder sister demanded P3 million from Yee in lieu of not indicting him for child abuse, violence against women and other violations of the Revised Penal Code.

Friend of bureau

NBI-Central Visayas director Medardo de Lemos, in a separate interview, said Yee, a bachelor and an engineer by profession, “is a friend of the bureau.”

But he urged the public to view the allegations raised against individuals as not having anything to do with the organization.

“In whatever commissions or acts of omission, we do not carry the name of the organization,” de Lemos said.

In her affidavit, the girl said she was 16 years old when she first met Yee in 2008. It was during her high school graduation in March that year when she rendered a dance number as part of the ceremonies.

She said Yee had somebody come and get her phone number and offer her a slot as a scholar for the Abellana National School Batch 1979 Alumni Association but required her to first attend the batch’s homecoming at a resort in Catmon town that was scheduled on May 1.

‘Mature’ caller

She said Yee called her up sometime in April but she didn’t take the call because the voice on the other line, which she said was Yee, was that of a “mature” person.

She still went to the homecoming because, she said, she was interested in the scholarship offer.

The scholarship was indeed given and she enrolled in nursing at Southwestern University.

Yee regularly texted her and often invited her out. She said she was forced to see him from time to time because Yee would hand over her allowance and money to defray school-related fees.

She said Yee also invited her out from time to time. She initially refused but Yee managed to get other members of the alumni association to compel her to come and see him at their regular hangout.

Leverage

Yee began courting her in August of that year and used the continuance of her scholarship as leverage, she said.

Yee also “brandished” a gun on several occasions and that it was at this time where she learned that Yee was an asset of the NBI.

She said Yee, brandishing a firearm, brought her to a motel in October of that year and “ravished her body.”

She said she “felt dirty” during the incident, adding that Yee kept on commenting on how young she was.

The incident happened many more times.

“He used his power, influence and relationship to coerce me to engage in a sexual relationship with him. I felt like a prostitute because after every act, he would shower me with gifts as payment,” she said.

She said she felt really low and even tried to slit her wrist in August of this year but her sister timely walked into her suicide attempt and stopped her.

She attached photos of her and Yee in her complaint.

They depicted scenes of him being with her friends and being with her family.

But Yee said nothing of this sort ever happened. He said the girl was simply a scholar their alumni association sent to school.

Poor grades

He said he only got to know the girl halfway through her first semester because she wasn’t able to maintain her grades, a requirement of her scholarship, and she pleaded to be given a second chance.

Yee said the girl then tried to get close to him and earn his trust.

It worked as shown by the photographs the girl attached to her affidavit complaint, he said.

“It came to a point where I trusted her so much that I would let her withdraw money from my account to pay my bills,” he said.

But it also got to a point where the girl supposedly tried to abuse their closeness, as well as her knowledge of his finances, by getting her family to borrow money to buy land in Medellin.

Yee said he paid the down payment to the property but, since they were not able to pay him back, he paid the rest of the amount and had a deed of sale executed in his name.

Scholarship withdrawn

As she was not able to keep her grades up anyway, the scholarship was also withdrawn, he said.

Yee said that perhaps this was what earned him her ire and that of her family. 

He said if there had been a rape, then it would have already been in court long ago given that the girl was supposedly so traumatized by the event for her to have wanted to end her own life.

“Looking at the photos she submitted, did she seem traumatized?” he asked.

He said the girl is being used, but did not elaborate.

Yee said though that the girl’s sister communicated with him in September this year and accused him of having a relationship with the complainant who, at that time, was now 17 years old.

The sister, he said, then told him to pay P3 million in exchange for her not going to court with the allegation.

Yee responded by going to the police and seeking their help in an entrapment that subsequently took place last September 28.

According to a report signed by Police Senior Superintendent Melvin Buenafe of the PNP Regional Intelligence Division, the elder sister was caught in the act of receiving the money.

But in her affidavit, the girl said her sister merely wanted to talk to Yee about their relationship. (KNR/Sun.Star Cebu)