CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are doubling their efforts to identify and arrest the men in a white van, who abducted and raped a 19-year-old student in the Barangay Banilad, Cebu City area on July 10.
This developed after the medical test results of the student-victim showed that she had indeed been raped.
Police Lieutenant Erlinda Mayam of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) said in a phone interview on July 18 that she was calling on possible witnesses to the crime to help them in the investigation.
Mayam said that there must have been people, who have seen the abduction and the white van involved.
She also said that they continued to check on the security cameras in the establishments in the area especially since the white van involved allegedly returned in the area to dump the victim there an hour after she was abducted and raped.
Aside from the investigation, Mayam said that the WCPD office also advised the student to seek help with regards to psychosocial intervention especially for rape victims to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Mayam said that they received the medical results today, July 18, that showed that the victim was raped.
“According sa analysis sa medical test, niresist ang victim sa gibuhat sa iyaha, meaning dakong posibilidad nga na-rape siya. (According to the medical test, the victim resisted to what was done to her. Meaning, there is a big possibility that she was raped),” said Mayam.
She said with this they were working to identify and arrest the suspects.
Read more: University student claimed men in white van abducted, raped her
The student claimed that at 5 p.m. of July 10, she was walking home from school in the Barangay Banilad area to Barangay Talamban. The victim said that when the she reached near the Banilad flyover area, a white van suddenly stopped near her.
Then two men got out — one of them grabbed her tightly in the arms while the other man covered her eyes and mouth with a piece of cloth. They then forcibly carried her struggling inside the van, and then they drove off.
An hour later or at 6 p.m., the van returned to the area near the Banilad flyover where they abducted her and dumped her there.She then hurriedly went home, and it took two days before she reported the incident to the police.
To this day, Mayam said the victim has been traumatized by the incident making it even more difficult for her to identify or remember the suspects.
Amid this incident, which Mayam described as an isolated case, Mayam encouraged the public to be more vigilant and for students to not walk alone when walking home from school or going to school./dbs