Ex-vice mayor wanted for rape nabbed in Manila

CABANATUAN CITY—Police on Wednesday arrested former Pantabangan Vice Mayor Romeo Borja Jr., who is facing rape charges, in a hotel in Metro Manila.

Last month, police arrested his father and coaccused, former Pantabangan Mayor Romeo Borja Sr., in Pangasinan province.

The Borjas have been implicated in the alleged statutory rape of a beauty pageant contestant who was then 15 years old when she was molested from May 2011 to November 2012.

The girl had represented the town in the provincial pageant and had turned 17 when she filed the complaint.

She said she was alternately threatened and promised money to keep quiet about the rape cases.

The Borjas have been charged with rape, human trafficking and child abuse in a Regional Trial Court in Angeles City.

Borja Sr. was arrested in Umingan, Pangasinan, on Feb. 8. He pleaded innocent of the charges when arraigned on Feb. 26. He asked the court to detain him in a hospital, instead of the Angeles City jail, due to supposed ailments. Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon