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Saturday, February 25, 2006
Priest accused of rape gets Dalawampu as lawyer
Fr. Jose Belciña, who has been accused of rape by an 18-year-old woman, found a lawyer in women’s rights activist Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu.
Dalawampu confirmed the priest from Barangay Maslog, Danao City met with her on Valentine’s Day and asked her to be his lawyer.
Belciña was accompanied by his cousin, former assistant Cebu City prosecutor Felipe Belciña, said Dalawampu.
The lawyer also said the 36-year-old priest was referred to her by a close family friend.
“While I could not say no to my two friends, there was also no way I would risk my reputation if I know my client wasn’t innocent,” she told reporters.
She visited the priest’s convent quarters last week.
“The area was not conducive for rape,” she said. She described that the convent was merely a house with a lot of windows that even whispers could be heard.
“Fr. Belciña’s room was adjacent to the staff office where requests for baptism and marriage are made,” said Dalawampu.
Dalawampu said the convent is three meters away from the St. Francis of Assisi Church where construction was ongoing.
The victim claimed she was raped three times by Belciña since July last year.
“When I tried to resist, Fr. Belciña told me he had a gun and then pointed to the gun in the shelf above his bed,” the woman’s affidavit read, referring to the first time she was raped.
Dalawampu’s move, though, may not sit well with the Legal Alternative for Women (LAW) Inc., which is representing the woman in the case. Law Inc. is an ally of the Federacion Internacional de Abogadas (Fida), which Dalawampu heads.
But Dalawampu said she is a private practitioner also. She referred the matter to the Fida officers, who gave her the go-signal to take the case.
“If we fight for women’s rights, it doesn’t mean we have to make false claims,” she said. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 25, 2006 issue)
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