It’s another case of “he said, she said.”
A Caloocan City policeman accused of rape by a 15-year-old girl has claimed that she was just trying to get back at him because he caught her stealing his cell phones.
But despite his counter-claim, Senior Police Officer 1 Joselito Tayag, a member of the Northern Police District’s Special Operations Unit (DSOU), would still be charged with violating Republic Act 7610, or the Anti-Child Abuse Law.
Police Officer 2 Marissa Santos of the city police Women and Children’s Desk said that the complaint against Tayag would be filed Thursday with the City Prosecutor’s Office.
According to Tayag’s accuser, he raped her inside the police station on Langaray Street in Barangay 14, Caloocan City, at around 9 p.m. on Sunday.
The teenager, who lives near the police station, told the Inquirer in an interview that she was walking on her way home when a maroon car stopped beside her.
A man whom she identified as a DSOU “striker” (someone who runs errands for policemen at a police station) alighted from the car and then forced her inside the vehicle.
“A uniformed policeman [whose nameplate identified him as Tayag] was in the driver’s seat. Afterward, he drove toward the police station,” the victim said.
She added that the policeman ordered her to go inside a room and undress or else, he would put her in the cell where all the male prisoners were.
The victim said she did as she was told out of fear that he would carry out his threat.
According to Santos, the results of a medico-legal report showed that the victim may have been raped.
Chief Inspector Bartolome Tarnate, the head of the DSOU, said he had ordered the administrative relief of Tayag to dispel doubts about a possible whitewash of the case.
“This is to remove the doubts about the ongoing investigation,” Tarnate said.
Tarnate, however, added that he was certain that no rape occurred inside the police station.
According to him, at the time of the supposed rape, there were six policemen going in and out of the room where the girl claimed the abuse took place.
The police official also claimed that Tayag told him that the girl had stolen his two cell phones and that he [Tayag] had confronted her about it on Sunday, the day of the supposed rape.
“He did not file a case against the girl but he merely asked her to give the cell phones back,” he added.
Tarnate said Tayag was shocked when he learned that the girl had accused him of rape.