Woman accuses 7 soldiers of gang-raping her inside military camp

SAN PASCUAL, Philippines—The regional police said it has started investigating a complaint filed by a 21-year-old woman against seven Army soldiers, whom she had accused of gang-raping her inside the camp of the 9th Infantry Battalion in Aroroy town in Masbate last week.

Quoting reports from the Aroroy town police, Superintendent Renato Bataller, Bicol police spokesman, said the rape allegedly took place at around 7 p.m. last Thursday.

Bataller said the victim, a resident of Barangay (village) Usab in Aroroy, filed a complaint with police claiming that a Corporal Gilbert Quinito or “Jeric,” along with six other soldiers she could not identify, all of whom belonged to the Bravo Company of the 9th Army Battalion based in Aroroy, took turns in sexually abusing her.

Army Major Angelo Guzman, spokesman for the 9th Infantry Division, said the seven soldiers have been disarmed and detained at the Army camp in Aroroy.

He said they had coordinated with the police and informed them that the suspects would be made available upon the issuance of a warrant of arrest against them.

The victim was a textmate of Quinito, said Senior Inspector Christian Jesus Huelva, police chief of Aroroy town, located 32 kilometers from Masbate City.

In a phone interview, Huelva said Quinito had invited the woman, who was in Masbate City, for an “eyeball” at the Army camp located at Barangay Puro in Aroroy. Puro is around six kilometers away from the town center of Aroroy.

Huelva said the soldier took the woman to the camp but claimed to have left her alone at the guardhouse of the camp, apparently because he did not like her.

Huelva said one of the soldiers felt pity for the woman and invited her to share supper with their group of six soldiers (not seven as reported by Bataller), which also included Quinito.

A drinking binge ensued during which the woman claimed she was raped, he said.

On Friday morning, the woman filed a complaint with Quinito as the main suspect.

He confirmed the soldiers involved had been disarmed but confined to barracks in the Army camp in Milagros, Masbate, not in Aroroy.