A CONSTRUCTION worker who was charged with four counts of statutory rape was arrested by the police at his workplace in Barangay Maslog, Sibulan, Negros Oriental, on May 1, Labor Day.
The 22-year-old suspect identified as Jonmark Malingin alias Ongke, hails from Barangay Puhagan, Valencia, Negros Oriental.
Major Nazareno Emia, the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Negros Oriental Provincial Office headed the “Oplan Pagtugis” operation that resulted in Malingin’s arrest.
The authorities were armed with an arrest warrant issued by Judge Sheila Martinez Catacutan-Besario of Regional Trial Court branch 31 of Dumaguete City on March 21, 2024, with no bail recommended.
Emia told SunStar Cebu that Malingin's crimes caused him to become the eighth most wanted person in the region and second in the province.
He claimed that in 2023, the suspect went into hiding after finding out that the parents of the 12-year-old victim filed a case against him.
It was reportedly through their chat conversations that the parents of the girl found out that Malingin was seeing her.
When interrogated by the parents, the child admitted that she was in a relationship with the suspect and that they already had four sexual encounters. (GPL, TPT)