Cop sacked over ‘lapses’ in rape probe

DAGUPAN CITY—The head of the women and children protection desk of the Cabugao police in Ilocos Sur province has been relieved from her post due to alleged lapses in handling the rape complaint filed by a 15-year-old girl there.

Police Staff Sergeant Mary Joy Pascua failed to report the incident to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), “[considering that] it was rape and the victim was a minor,” said Police Col. Ronald Tagao, Ilocos Sur police director.

“That is the reason I also filed an administrative case against her (Pascua),” Tagao told a radio interview on Wednesday.

Pascua received the rape complaint filed by the victim and her 18-year-old cousin against Police Staff Sergeants Randy Ramos and Marawi Torda, both assigned to the San Juan police in Ilocos Sur.

The policemen arrested the two girls while attending a birthday party on June 27 at Barangay Darao in San Juan town for supposed violation of the curfew.

The victim’s cousin said the policemen brought them to a beach where they were sexually assaulted.

Fear for safety

After following up on the complaint on July 2, the victim was shot and killed by unknown assailants on a motorcycle in Cabugao.

Melody Saniatan, the victim’s aunt, said she and her family feared for their safety, and asked Pascua to provide them with security. Saniatan has been serving as the victim’s guardian in the absence of her mother, who is working as a maid in Kuwait.

“But she (Pascua) turned down our request. She told us that we’re not the only ones who need security,” Saniatan told the Inquirer by phone from Camp Crame in Quezon City, where they had been staying after they filed the complaint.

According to Tagao, Pascua had been transferred to the Ilocos Sur provincial police office while the administrative case against her was being investigated.

“Pascua had told the victims that it was already late and she had to go home and fulfill her duties as a mother,” Tagao said, adding that “there were lapses on her part as the investigator.”

PNP custody

Saniatan and the victim’s cousin were placed under the custody of the Philippine National Police’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (Imeg) unit in charge of investigating erring policemen.

Imeg personnel have been helping the two in the rape complaint against the two suspects.

“We still trust our policemen because not all of them are like those who raped and killed [my niece],” Saniatan said.

She added: “We are well taken care of here [at Camp Crame]. We are provided with food and a place to stay. They told us we could stay here until the cases were filed.”