2 cabbies held as girl cries rape

Two taxi drivers were arrested in Pasay City Monday afternoon for the alleged abduction and rape of a 15-year-old student.

City police chief Senior Supt. Rodolfo Llorca said Edgar Deguilla, 42, and Donato Quares, 36, were arrested separately at their homes in Pasay after the girl positively identified them as her alleged abusers.

The teenager, also a Pasay resident, said she was waiting for a ride home in front of a beauty products store on Taft Avenue around noon Saturday when the two men got off a taxi, punched her in the stomach and forced her into the trunk of the car.

The suspects then drove off to a vacant lot in Pasig City where they took turns raping her, according to the complaint.

The suspects then released her on C. Raymundo Avenue in Pasig City a few hours later. She later managed to phone her father, a house painter, and seek help from the Pasig police.

While she and her father were on their way to Philippine General Hospital for her medical examination, she saw her attackers again onboard an El Pueblo taxi (TYF-399) on Libertad Street.

Investigators were able to trace the operator of El Pueblo taxis and obtain records and photos of all the drivers. “The child pointed to the photos of the two suspects. And the police wasted no time in tracking the suspects down,” Llorca added.

Charges of abduction and rape were set to be filed against Deguilla and Quares, who remained in detention Tuesday.

Two weeks earlier, two men who were also using a taxi were arrested for kidnapping, robbing and molesting a hotel waitress, who was taken in Makati City and brought to Quezon province, where she managed to escape.