A 17-YEAR-OLD boy allegedly raped three girls inside their house in Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City last Wednesday dawn.
Police turned over Jason (real name withheld) to the City Social Welfare Services after the parents and grandmother of the girls—ages seven, six and three—sought their help past 7 p.m. last Wednesday.
The complainants went to the Pusok Police Station after Nina (real name withheld), the seven-year-old, told her grandmother what Jason allegedly did to her, her sister and cousin, said Senior Insp. Judith Besas, chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office Women and Children’s Protection Desk.
The girls were taken yesterday to the Pink Room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for examination.
Jason, who hails from Tacloban City in Leyte Province, denied he molested the children, said Besas.
Kristine (real name withheld), the mother of two older girls, brought the boy to Lapu-Lapu City in late 2013 after super typhoon Yolanda devastated Tacloban City.
Kristine is separated from her husband, who lives in Leyte. The three-year-old girl is her niece.
Babysitter
Jason, a fourth year high school student, would help babysit the three girls and sell mangoes at a stall rented by the family at the public market in Barangay Poblacion, Besas said. They lived in the same house and slept in the same room.
Operatives from the Pusok Station picked up Jason at the stall in the public market last Wednesday night.
Besas said that Jason may have molested the girls several times. Nina, who attends Grade 2, said he threatened to hurt them if they tell their mothers or grandmother what he did to them.
But around 6 p.m. last Wednesday, Nina told their grandmother what he did. She said Jason pulled down her shorts and inserted his genitals into her own, an act she demonstrated with her hands. He also allegedly inserted his finger into her cousin’s genitals.
“It wasn’t elaborated what he did to the six-year-old but she was also molested,” Besas said.
Besas said that Kristine studies Cebu City and would be home only during weekends. The children are under their grandmother’s care on weekdays.
Kristine, a former overseas worker, met Jason while she was in Tacloban City with her former husband, said Besas. “She brought the boy with her to Lapu-Lapu City out of pity because he didn’t have a home,” she said in Cebuano.
Survivor
Besas said that Jason was a Yolanda survivor, but she had no information about his family in Tacloban.
Kristine was devastated as she didn’t expect Jason, whom she fed and gave a home, could abuse her daughters and niece, said Besas.
Although Jason denied the allegation, Besas said, he looked ashamed when confronted by Kristine, her sister and mother. They were shocked because Jason seemed a shy boy.
“Dili daw ni tig barkada (He wasn’t fond of going out with friends),” Besas said.
She said that social workers will talk to Jason to find out the truth and whether or not he acted with discernment, if he indeed sexually abused the girls.
“He might face a complaint for statutory rape but it depends now on the court, considering he is a minor,” said Besas.