Wife of arrested Cebu lawyer says her husband is innocent of rape charges

Juril Patiño was arrested along Arellano Boulevard, Cebu City on Monday, July 22, 2019, by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation Central Visayas Region Office (NBI CEVRO). | contributed photo

Cebu City, Philippines—The wife of lawyer Juril Patiño claims her husband is innocent.

In a Facebook post on July 23, 2019, Lilibeth Estomo Patiño said her husband should not be condemned as he was wrongly accused of the charges filed against him.

“You do not know the story behind this fabricated case against him,” read a portion of her post.

Patiño was arrested along Arellano Boulevard, Cebu City on Monday, July 22, 2019, by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation Central Visayas Region Office (NBI CEVRO) armed with a warrant issued July 23, 2018 for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in 2017.

Read more: Rape complaint filed against lawyer-broadcaster

Charges of rape were filed by the NBI-7 against  Patiño at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office on July 26, 2017.

The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office found sufficient basis to indict lawyer Patiño on charges of rape on April 11, 2018.

Lilibeth said her husband is too good of a person to do what he is accused of and added that he is just a victim of injustice.

Lawyer Donaver Inesin, the senior agent of NBI CEVRO and one of those present during the arrest of Patiño, told CDN Digital that they were only doing their jobs.

“We are respecting his rights as a citizen and a fellow lawyer. Now it will be up to the court to judge,” said Inesin.

Read more: Lawyer-broadcaster faces trial for rape

According to Inesin they have been monitoring Patiño for months now. They got a chance to arrest him on Monday when Patiño dropped off his wife near Pier 4.

Patiño is currently detained at the NBI CEVRO jail and will be transferred to the Cebu City jail, where he will be staying for the duration of his trial. 

Patiño was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on July 4, 2017. 

In an April 2018 article on CDN, it said that the victim claimed she went to the office of Brigada News, where Patiño used to work at, to supposedly ask money from program anchor Carlo Dugaduga for her school project.

The victim, her mother, and older sister used to do laundry for Dugaduga to earn money.

The girl said Dugaduga was not around when she went to the radio station. She said she instead met Patiño and asked money from the latter so she could go back home to Barangay Labangon in Cebu City.

At first, Patiño allegedly told her that he didn’t have coins. But while she was on her way out of the building, the then lawyer-broadcaster allegedly told her to go with him to his car where he left the coins.

The victim said Patiño allegedly offered to bring her to the nearest place where she can ride a jeepney going to Labangon.

But when they reached Barangay Parian, Patiño purportedly stopped near the building and locked the doors of his vehicle.

Afterwhich, the girl said, she was told by Patiño to transfer to the back seat. She obliged out of fear.

The victim said Patiño then sexually molested her inside the vehicle, whose windows were tinted. After the alleged rape, the girl said Patiño gave her P200.

She subsequently reported the matter to her mother who in turn sought the help of the Parian Police Station.

However, they felt that the authorities were reluctant to file a case against Patiño, prompting them to ask assistance from officials of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas, who, after conducting an investigation, decided to file a rape complaint against Patiño at the prosecutor’s office. /bmjo