A young Japanese woman arrived in Lapu-Lapu City last June 21 to visit her Japanese friend and have some fun in the sun.
But her vacation turned into a nightmare for her and her friend after they were raped by two Korean nationals in a motel in Lapu-Lapu City last Saturday morning.
The two Koreans were arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) a day after the rape occurred.
One of the suspects is supposedly the son of a hotel owner based in Lapu-Lapu City.
Their names are being withheld until their sides are heard while the names of the victims are also withheld to protect their privacy.
Rape charges are set to be filed against them before the Lapu-Lapu City prosecutor’s office today.
The victims aged 21 and 20 years old were tourists in Cebu. The other Japanese victim arrived in Cebu City last month to study English.
A team headed by Chief Insp. Fermin Armendarez III arrested the first suspect at his home in barangay Talamban.
The second suspect was arrested when he visited his companion at the CIDG-7 office.
Armendarez, CIDG-7 Metro Cebu chief, said both victims sought assistance from their office after the incident.
Sen. Insp. Jose Pante said both victims were renting an apartment in Lapu-Lapu City.
The two were walking near their rented apartment towards a parking area for tricycles when the two suspects arrived on board a white car and tried to befriend them.
The victims said they found the two men friendly enough and gave them their cell phone numbers.
But they said they refused their offer of a ride towards a mall and instead took a taxi.
They said one of the suspects called and asked to meet them at a coffee shop.
They later went to barangay Busay for a round of drinks. At midnight the four of them went to a resto bar in Mango Square for another drinking bout.
They said the Koreans brought them to a motel in Lapu-Lapu City at past 3 a.m last Saturday.
They said it was too late when they gained consciousness and noticed that they were inside a motel room before being molested.
The two men left their victims without paying the bills.
Pante said the room boy told the security guard that the men went to the desk and told them that the women will settle the P700 bill.
The room boy who requested anonymity confirmed that the two Japanese girls were drunk by the time they arrived in the motel.
He said both suspects asked them that all four of them will use only one room.
But he said he refused even after the Korean tried to bribe with P150.
One of the victims managed to call up a Filipino friend and told him about the incident.
The two Japanese girls were then brought to the CIDG-7 office where they recounted their misfortune.
They were brought to the pink room of a government hospital where it was verified that they were molested.
The two suspects declined to comment, while the two victims cannot communicate in English.
The Japanese girl who arrived last Thursday was scheduled to return to Japan today. /Chito O. Aragon, Correspondent