Dumaguete student cries sexual harassment; cops nab, release suspect

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DUMAGUETE CITY — A student who was about to enter a coffee shop here was sexually harassed by a man on Thursday afternoon (September 8).

Angel (not her real name) told the Inquirer on Friday that she was walking when a man grabbed her.

“I ran away from him and opened my camera to be able to identify him but I wasn’t expecting he would run after me and grab me in my private area,” she said.

In video footage, the man was seen chasing the victim to the second floor of a building where Angel was supposed to seek refuge from the attacker.

Angel tried to stop him, but the man resisted and touched her private part before running away.

On Thursday evening, the Dumaguete police arrested the man who was brought to the Dumaguete City Police Office and was identified as Basilio Reboton who previously had different complaints filed by different victims.

In a separate interview, Police Auxiliary Rogelio Amahid of Dumaguete Police Office, said they held the man under their custody for hours while waiting for formal complaints but no one came, prompting the authorities to free Reboton.

“We cannot hold him under arrest since no formal complaint was charged against him for now,” Amahid said.

The suspect, he said, was also arrested for a criminal offense before. He said they have yet to check the specific criminal violations the suspect committed.

“About more than 10 people have messaged me sharing their bad experiences with the same guy which is really surprising, they’re all glad I was able to record what happened to me because they weren’t able to record him due to shock,” said Angel.