PNP exec denies ‘serial rapist’ on the loose in Quezon province

LUCENA CITY -– The top police official in Quezon province has refuted President Duterte’s report that a serial rapist was victimizing girls in the province.

“There is no serial rapist in Quezon,” Colonel Audie Madrideo, Quezon police chief, said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Madrideo further claimed that the recorded rape incidents in the province were much lower in 2019 compared to 2018.

On Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), told reporters in Camp Crame that President Duterte has raised concern on the rise of rape crimes particularly young girls as victims.

According to Gamboa, President Duterte has specifically cited the series of rape incidents recorded in Quezon province and cited the latest killing and sexual molestation of a girl in Candelaria town.

On Monday, the Candelaria police arrested Ricardo Burce as the primary suspect behind the rape/slay of an 8-year-old girl.

But Wednesday morning, Burce was found dead inside the Candelaria police jail.

According to an initial police report, Burce did not respond when a fellow inmate was trying to wake him up at about 6 a.m. Inmates then noticed that he was no longer breathing.

Policemen rushed the suspect to the Candelaria District Hospital Norte but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Police have yet to disclose in a report the suspected cause of death of Burce.

The Quezon police public information office disclosed that there were 228 rape cases in 2018, 172 of them minors, and 56 adults.

In 2019, the rape case index posted 177 incidents, with 130 of minor age and 47 adults.

Edited by Lzb