Cop tells bosses: There was no rape

After the “rape,” he gave the alleged victim P40 for her fare home.

This and other details have emerged in the rape charge filed by a 15-year-old girl against a Parañaque City police officer, who surrendered to his superiors on Friday after a two-day absence.

Senior Insp. Muljani Dugasan was apologetic to fellow policemen “for all the trouble” he had caused yet he was ready with a defense lawyer when he showed up at headquarters, according to acting city police chief Senior Supt. Andrei Felix.

“He said he pitied his family and that he was also scared of going to jail,” Felix told the Inquirer Saturday.

He said Dugasan, commander of Police Community Precinct (PCP) 3, was placed under restrictive custody and will face administrative charges aside from the criminal complaint already filed Thursday in the city prosecutor’s office.

Dugasan denied accusations that he raped a second-year high school student also from Parañaque in his private car on the headquarters’ parking lot on Sucat Road Tuesday night, Felix said.

“He said he can’t do such a thing. ‘Why would I do that when I’m already due for retirement?’”  he said.

Felix said Dugasan also belied the rape complainant’s claim that they were total strangers since they already knew each other long before the incident.

“The other policemen (at PCP3) also said the girl had been friends to some of them and was a regular visitor to the station,” he said.

The beleaguered officer was advised by his lawyer to save the rest of his statements for the court, he said.

Dugasan, 55, is up for retirement in August with no prior record of abuse and other offenses since joining the force in 1978, Felix said.

Quoting the girl’s complaint affidavit, Felix said she went to PCP3 around 7 p.m. Tuesday. The girl was waiting for “a policeman friend” when Dugasan approached her and asked who she was looking for.

When she didn’t answer, Dugasan again tried to start a conversation by letting her read the text messages he was receiving from another woman. He then seized the moment to ask for her cell phone number.

When the girl told him that she had to go home to Barangay Sto. Niño because her mother was already looking for her, Dugasan was quick to offer her a ride.

She initially declined but eventually agreed because he was persistent, and waited for a few more minutes as he went back to his office to get his service firearm.

On the way to Sto. Niño, Dugasan stopped at a fast food outlet and placed drive-through orders for both of them. From there, he drove to the parking lot of Parañaque police central station.

Inside the parked vehicle, Dugasan allegedly started kissing and touching the girl. She protested by asking: “Kailangan po ba ito? (Is this necessary?)”

At one point, the girl slapped the officer’s hand to make him stop, but Dugasan went on to touch her private parts. She said there was penetration involved.

According to the affidavit, the girl still managed to text her policeman friend while being molested, asking him to fetch her because she was already “being kissed by an old man.”

When this friend rang her up, she told Dugasan that it was her mother calling and that she needed to go home. This finally made the officer stop.

Dugasan dropped her off at Amvel, which is near the station, and gave her “P40” for her ride home. She said she went home in tears and reported the alleged abuse to her parents, who filed a complaint that same night.