Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Rape victim sues pals By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- A 19-year-old student of a state college in North Cotabato on Monday filed rape complaints against two of her male friends who allegedly abused her sexually on Friday night.
Mary (not her real name), a second year student of the Cotabato College of Science and Technology (CFCST) in Arakan, told authorities that a male friend, which she later identified as Lloyd Espinosa, fetched her from her boarding house Friday and took her to a beer garden in Barangay Poblacion in Arakan.
At the bar, she met a female friend and three other male friends, one of whom was identified as Rupert Marcelino who works as a collector of an appliance store in Kidapawan City.
After a drinking session, instead of going back home, Espinosa and Marcelino took her to an abandoned lot in Arakan poblacion and raped her.
Mary said even if she wanted to fight back she felt so weak and tired at that time.
After which, she was taken to a lodging house in Barangay Poblacion in Antipas, a town adjacent to Arakan, where the second rape incident took place.
It was Mary's father who first reported to Arakan police that his daughter was missing.
When the police launched the search, they found Mary in one of the lodging houses in the area.
Senior Inspector Benjamin Rioflorido, chief of Arakan police, said after Mary and another witness executed their affidavits last Saturday, he immediately ordered massive manhunt against Espinosa and Marcelino.
They went to Kidapawan City to conduct the search.
"Yet, our men failed to locate the suspects. So, instead of filing this case through inquest proceedings, we'll do it on a regular basis," he explained.
Rioflorido said the suspects could have gone into hiding after they were told that charges were filed against them.
"We'll make them liable for what they've done. We want justice served for the rape victim," said Rioflorido.
