The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the rape complaint filed by a 21-year-old woman against a justice department marshal for insufficiency of evidence. In his resolution dated Sept. 27 but was released yesterday, Prosecutor Felixberto Geromo cited several inconsistencies and improbabilities in the testimony of the complainant.
The complainant, an alleged gang rape victim who was under the custody of the DOJ Witness Protection Program (WPP) after she received validated threats to her life, claimed that DOJ marshal Romelo Pabroa, alias Billy, abused her 36 times from January to July inside the WPP safehouse in barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City.
The incidents of sexual molestation were revealed when the wives of the complainant’s companions in the safehouse had a quarrel because they were jealous of the complainant.
The complainant, in an interview with Cebu Daily News, claimed that she reported her ordeal to Prosecutor Llena Impong Avila, regional implementor of the WPP, as early as March, but she was instead taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and was made to undergo a mental fitness test.
The complainant sought the help of the media and the police after she was discharged from the WPP last July that led to the filing of a criminal complaint before the prosecutor’s office.
The investigating prosecutor gave weight to the recommendations of Dr. Renato Obra of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center who conducted a psychiatric evaluation on the complainant. Obra said the complainant was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, nymphomania or hypersexuality and malingering.
Geromo likewise gave credence to the marshal’s defense which was supported by sworn statements from 11 people who were under the custody of the Witness Protection Program (WPP) and Asst. Regional Prosecutor Avila.
“Yes, we all listened to the complainant’s story and hear her cry for justice. But the remedy lies not with us but somewhere,” said Geromo.
“In the Psychiatric Evaluation Report of Dr. Renato Obra, he recommended on what has to be done with [the complainant]. It should be done without delay, otherwise [she] will become a waste forever.”
Obra had recommended that the complainant be taken to the Pink Room of the VSMMC for further medical and psychological work-up.
Answered prayers
Pabroa, in an interview yesterday, was emotional after learning that the rape case against him was dropped.
“I’m very happy. My prayers were heard. Finally, truth came out. It’s a sigh of relief for me,” he told CDN in Cebuano.
Following the release of the resolution, the DOJ lifted the suspension it earlier imposed against Pabroa.
Pabroa, a father of three children, reiterated that he never raped the complainant and that the latter simply fabricated stories against him.
“I feel mad at her (complainant). She destroyed my reputation. I and my family have been traumatized with what she did. It appears that I’m the victim here,” Pabroa said.
He said two of his children were bullied in school.
At first, Pabroa said his wife was dismayed with the allegations. But later on, his wife supported him.
“My wife told me that if there’s someone who knows me better, that’s her. She did not believe the accusations,” Pabroa said.
Pabroa’s wife gave birth to their third child last August 5.
His lawyer Noel Archival was elated that the handling prosecutor chose to dismiss the rape complaint against his client.
HARD TO PROVE, DEFEND
“A rape case is both hard to prove and hard to defend. We’re just happy that the prosecutor saw the light in this case. As I said before, there are two kinds of accusations. One is true. The other is false. In this case, it’s very clear that the accusations are not true,” Archival said.
He said they will welcome any move of the complainant to contest the ruling.
“They can file a motion for reconsideration. That’s their right,” he said.
Archival said they don’t intend to file counter-charges against the complainant even if she destroyed the reputation of Pabroa.
“We should be magnanimous in victory. Instead of pulling her down, we should instead help her,” he said.
Unfair ruling
Thelma Chiong, national vice president of the Crusade Against Violence, was disappointed with the decision of the prosecutor to dismiss the complaint against Pabroa.
Chiong, who is assisting the complainant, said Geromo’s ruling is “unfair.”
“We’re not content with his (Geromo) resolution. Didn’t he bother to consider the allegations of the complainant? It seems that the prosecutor gave credence to the defense of the respondent than the accusations of the complainant,” she said.
Chiong said they will file a motion for reconsideration, seeking for a reversal of the ruling.
If the motion will be denied, she said they may seek the intervention of top officials of the Department of Justice, including Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
“Do you think the complainant can manage to fabricate stories and put herself in a shameful situation? I don’t think she’s lying because if she is, I would not have supported her,” Chiong explained.
Hard to believe
Prosecutor Geromo, in his resolution, said the allegations of the complainant are hard to believe.
For one, he said the complainant remembered four dates when she was allegedly raped by Pabroa.
However, the logbook in the safe house where she stayed showed that Pabroa was not on duty on those days.
The complainant was with the witness protection program in December 2012 after she filed a case against the suspects who allegedly gang raped her sometime in 2010.
Her misfortunes against sexual predators purportedly started in 2008 when she was raped by an uncle. Both the 2008 and 2010 cases are pending in court.
While staying in the witness protection program, the complainant said she was accompanied by her niece.
But the prosecutor said the complainant never revealed that her niece lived with her in the safe house.
“In those estimated 36 times that she was raped, where did the child (niece) sleep as she used to sleep with her auntie?,” Geromo said.
The complainant’s housemates earlier told the psychiatrist that she was seen watching explicit films inside the safe house and performing lewd acts which include kissing the lips of her companions and flirting with marshals.
Dr. Obra, who checked the complainant’s condition, said the complainant gave different versions of the incident.
First, she claimed to have been raped only three times by Pabroa. But Obra said the complainant later changed her account, saying she was raped 36 times within a period of three months.
The complainant also claimed to be Pabroa’s girlfriend. But the DOJ marshal denied it.