SPD officer faces rape, trafficking raps

‘SPD SHOCKER’ The alleged rape victim (right) takes her complaint to the National Bureau of Investigation against a Southern Police District official on Monday.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The relieved officer of the Southern Police District (SPD) faces charges of rape and human trafficking in person following the claim of a nightclub model that he raped her in his quarters after a raid on the nightclub in Pasay City, the National Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday.

Supt. Erwin Emelo had been issued a subpoena to appear on Monday for the ongoing investigation of the accusations against him, supervising agent Alan Tubi of NBI-National Capital Region said.

He would be charged with rape and human trafficking based on the statement of the victim, Tubi said.

Leila (not her real name), who was among those arrested inside the nightclub, filed a rape complaint on Monday in the NBI against Emelo, saying he asked her to see him at his SPD office and sexually assaulted her inside his sleeping quarters hours after the raid.

Tubi said they are now talking to other witnesses, particularly a female friend of the victim who was on the same room when the alleged sexual assault took place.

Leila claimed that Emelo forced himself on her in the presence of the other female bar worker. Before the assault, he asked her if she could be his “girlfriend” but later made her choose between having sex with him or being charged like the other employees, she added.

Emelo was relieved of his post as head of the special operations unit on Oct. 25, the same day Leila went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Camp Crame, where she first reported the alleged rape before going to the NBI.

Accusation denied

Emelo denied the accusation and the officer who replaced him said he was in the office of Emelo when the supposed sexual assault happened but neither he nor the other bar girls arrested in the raid noticed anything unusual inside Emelo’s quarters.

Chief Inspector Clarence Gomeyac, who was camp commander before he replaced Emelo, expressed doubt over Leila’s story. He said he was making the rounds inside the camp as part of his duties on Oct. 23 and that he himself saw the more than 60 persons arrested in the raid sitting on the floor at 2 a.m. when Leila claimed the rape happened.

He said that if there was any commotion in Emelo’s sleeping quarters, which has a connecting door to the office, the arrested persons would have heard it.

A check by the Inquirer showed that if a person inside the sleeping quarters clapped his or her hands even with the connecting door to the office closed, the clap would have been heard in the office and the investigation room. With a report from Kristine Felisse Mangunay