Ex-Ecija mayor held for rape, child abuse

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—The former mayor of Pantabangan town in Nueva Ecija province was arrested by police on Saturday while attending a funeral Mass for a former employee in Umingan town, Pangasinan province.

Chief Inspector Remegio Yapes, Umingan police chief, said former Mayor Romeo Borja Sr., 62, did not resist arrest when Umingan and Pantabangan police served him three arrest warrants issued on Oct. 24, 2013, by Judge Bernardita Gabitan-Erum of the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 in Angeles City.

Borja, who was Pantabangan mayor from 2007 to 2013, was charged with rape, child abuse and trafficking persons, Yapes said. He lost his reelection bid for his last term in May 2013.

The charges were filed in the Department of Justice in March last year by a 17-year-old local beauty pageant contestant.

The victim, who represented Pantabangan in Nueva Ecija’s Miss Teen Tourism pageant in 2011, claimed that Borja raped her from May 2011 to November 2012.

Yapes said Borja was with his wife and some relatives when he was arrested at 9:45 a.m. He was taken to the Umingan police station and later to Umingan Community Hospital for medical examination.

“While there, the attending doctor found his blood pressure to be unstable. So he will have to stay there until such time that his blood pressure normalizes,” Yapes said in a telephone interview.

He said Borja was taken to Angeles City to face his cases. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon