Metrobriefs

Trike driver tagged for child rape

A 48-YEAR-OLD tricycle driver was arrested on Tuesday night in Mandaluyong City after his 5-year-old neighbor accused him of rape. Senior Insp. Lani Martirez, head of the women and children’s section of the Mandaluyong police, identified the rape suspect as Jhun Hepe, a resident of Welfareville Compound in Barangay Addition Hills. He was arrested by barangay watchmen who turned him over to the police after the young girl came home crying on Tuesday night and told her mother of her ordeal. Martirez said that based on the girl’s account, the man dragged her into his house where he raped her. He then allowed her to go home. Martirez added that the suspect, who did not seem drunk or high on drugs during his arrest, was charged with statutory rape at the Mandaluyong Prosecutor’s Office Wednesday. Niña Calleja

Fire destroys P1.5-M property

A WOMAN was hurt when she tried to save her family’s belongings after a fire broke out in a two-story house on A. Luna Street, Barangay Burol, Mandaluyong City, at 6:31 p.m. on Tuesday. Arson prober FO3 Rommel de Vera told the Inquirer that Brigilda Soriano, 83, the house owner, had just turned on the lights in the kitchen “when a huge flame rose up, engulfing a portion of the house in an instant.” The fire then quickly spread to around two dozen houses in the neighborhood, destroying P1.5 million worth of property and leaving 30 families homeless. Soriano escaped unscathed although another resident, a 58-year-old woman identified as Esmerald Aserol, suffered cuts in her left foot as she tried to save her family’s belongings. The cause of the fire, which was put out at 7:33 p.m., was still under investigation although residents said it was either caused by a gas tank leak or faulty electrical wiring. Niña Calleja

Fake school supplies seized

THE CRIMINAL Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police raided a retail outlet the other day that was found selling pencil sharpeners and erasers bearing the mark Exam Grade, a registered trademark of Schwan-Stabilo Schwanhäußer GmbH & Co. KG (Schwan-Stabilo). Counterfeit Stabilo Boss highlighters were also seized from the outlet. The raid was conducted at Trinity Marketing on E.T. Yuchengco Street on the basis of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 149, Makati City. The CIDG initiated an investigation based on a formal complaint of Schwan-Stabilo, a German company. Under Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, the use of a registered mark without authority from the registered owner constitutes trademark infringement, with criminal penalties of imprisonment of up to five years and the corresponding fines. The company’s legal representative, Edmund Baranda of Taw & Associates, has warned the public to be wary of counterfeit goods, especially with the approach of the school opening in June.