A 49-YEAR-OLD tricycle driver was arrested by local tanods in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, after he was accused of allegedly molesting four minors.
But Falcondo Tabura denied the allegations made by the four children—aged 7, 8 and 9—that he had sexually molested them.
Tabura, a resident of Peace Valley Homes in Barangay Bulacao-Pardo, Cebu City, was arrested by tanods from Pardo after relatives of the four children filed a complaint against him.
An aunt of one of the victims told Superbalita Cebu that while her seven-year-old niece was playing outside their house, Tabura arrived onboard his electric tricycle.
The seven-year-old victim’s aunt claimed Tabura invited her to ride his e-tricycle.
When the seven-year-old was onboard the tricycle, Tabura reportedly sped off, which prompted the child’s relatives to chase him via a motorcycle.
When they finally caught up with Tabura, the seven-year-old victim immediately disembarked from the suspect’s tricycle.
They also found out that the seven-year-old victim’s older sister had also been victimized by Tabura.
The older sister claimed that Tabura had raped her twice—once in August and once in September.
The victims claimed that Tabura would offer them P20 to P100 just so they would ride with him.
Once they rode with him, Tabura would then take them to an undisclosed place and sexually molest them.
Aside from young girls, Tabura had reportedly molested young boys as well.
The complainants claimed Tabura had sexually molested other children in their barangay, but some of them refused to file a complaint due to fears of retaliation.
One of the victims, a nine-year-old girl, told her aunt that Tabura had raped her after showing her her private parts were bleeding while she was urinating.
Some of the victims claimed that Tabura would reportedly wait outside their school.
But Tabura denied these allegations.
“I never molested them. I challenge those children to have themselves examined to determine if they were touched. I would never touch those children. I would never even touch a prostitute, let alone a bunch of children,” Tabura told Superbalita Cebu, in Cebuano.
He was surprised that tanods immediately arrested him yesterday.
Tabura admitted that he knew the victims because he often ferried them to their homes using his tricycle as paying passengers.
Despite Tabura’s denial, the local police station in Pardo is planning to file charges of rape and acts of lasciviousness in relation to Republic Act 7610 against him.
Police Corporal Krizzia Carol Regudo told Superbalita Cebu that two of the victims, aged seven and nine, claimed they were raped by Tabura twice.
Regudo said Tabura would reportedly use several methods to attract his victims, like offering them free bread or allowing them to drive his e-tricycle.
However, the victims failed to point out where Tabura had molested them as they were often blindfolded.
The victims will undergo medical examination at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) Pink Center to determine if they had indeed been raped. (AYB, BBT OF SUPERBALITA CEBU, JKV)