UPLB rape cases tied to drug abuse

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Officials of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) have implemented strict security measures amid recent incidents of crime, including rape and murder, which they attribute to drug use within the campus and its surrounding community.

In a statement posted on its website, the university said it was closely coordinating with Los Baños Mayor Caesar Perez and the local police, following the arrest of three university guards on suspicion of raping  two women, one of them a UPLB student. The guards were taken in the course of the police antidrug operations in the town last week.

“The incident highlights the negative effects of drug use and the need for UPLB and the local government’s police force to coordinate in solving problems of drug use inside the university and its premises, and also among full time and contracted employees,” it said.

Police arrested the guards—Robert Cañete, Jayve Tayze and Rodrico Landicho—in separate drug busts in Los Baños. During questioning, investigators learned that the suspects were also involved in the rape of a 42-year-old woman in Barangay Maahas on June 14 and a sophomore UPLB student on April 18.

The sexual abuse of the student happened near the Animal Science building inside the campus. Chief Insp. Owen Banaag, municipal police chief, said one of the guards was on duty on the night the student was attacked.

Landicho and Tayze reportedly stopped reporting for work in June.

The statement said the guards were employed by Northcom Security Agency, which was contracted by the university to secure the campus on July 14, 2014.

“These security guards are not members of the UPLB University Police Force (UPF) or the Community Support Brigade (CSB) whose members are carefully screened by UPLB as part of the employment process. Rather, they belong to a security agency contracted through competitive bidding,” it said.

The UPLB administration is working with the municipal government “to ensure that justice will be done in the trial of the three suspects,” the statement said.

In 2011, UPLB student Given Grace Cebanico was raped and killed in a dimly lit portion of IPB Road inside the campus. Another student was raped near the same spot in 2014.

These incidents prompted tighter security measures, particularly UPLB’s decision to form the CSB and hire more guards to patrol the campus, especially at night.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Dr. Serlie Jamias, UPLB vice chancellor for community affairs, said the university would not renew the contract of Northcom Security Agency. It is also considering taking legal action against the agency, she said.

“I feel like crying. They (security guards) were supposed to be our partners,” Jamias said.

“We will fast-track the bidding [process] for a new agency that will undergo strict scrutiny. We will not just take them at face value,” she said.

Since the case of Cebanico, UPLB had augmented its security forces and provided hourly transportation service for students at night until 4 a.m. A 10 p.m. curfew is also strictly implemented on campus.

Members of the UPF regularly undergo drug testing, Jamias said. She said she was expecting the agency to do the same for its guards.

Jamias said the university had coordinated with the municipal police as soon as the student reported the rape incident on June 23.  It will provide her counseling, she said. “That’s the least we could do.”