3 San Fernando cops cry foul: We were falsely accused of rape
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Three policemen assigned at the San Fernando Police Station are planning to file a case against a woman, who had allegedly falsely accused them of raping her last Saturday, May 8, near the San Fernando Police Station.
The three policemen, who have been disarmed and placed under camp restriction, have denied the allegation of rape saying they were not at the police station at the time that the woman claimed that she was raped.
Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo, Police Regional Office (PRO-7) director, confirmed that the three policemen were disarmed and were placed under camp restriction as they were being investigated for allegedly raping the woman.
This was done after the woman filed a complaint of rape at the Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group in Central Visayas (IMEG-7) at the PRO-7 office.
Montejo said the complainant was now under the custody of the Women and Children’s Protection Center (WCPC) in the region.
He said that she had also been examined at the Pink Room at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
Initial investigation showed that the woman, who was allegedly left behind at a convenience store in San Fernando town by her cousin on their way to Negros, sought help at the San Fernando Police Station at about 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 8.
San Fernando town is at least 38 kilometers south of Cebu City.
The woman claimed that instead of helping her, the three policemen at the station allegedly raped her near the vicinity of the station.
Police Colonel Engelbert Soriano, for his part, said that after receiving the complaint, he immediately ordered that the three policemen be disarmed and placed under camp restriction.
But initial investigation showed inconsistencies in the women’s story like the time that she was allegedly raped, said Soriano.
The woman claimed that she was allegedly raped by the three policemen at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 8.
But Soriano said that the three policemen concerned were not at the police station at that time, they were out on the field responding to an accident in the town.
He said that this was documented as instructed by the San Fernando Police Station chief.
He also found out that the woman had also allegedly filed similar complaints in several police stations accusing policemen of rape.
“Noong nakita o nabalitaan yung complaint against the personnel ng San Fernando, nag react yung mga stations na ‘Oh, yan din yung nag reklamo dito na gumawa ulit ng storya’. So medyo naging basis namin yan to further investigate yung allegation nya,” Soriano said.
He, however, did not mention what police stations these were.
However, he said that they would wait for the result of the hospital examination to find out if she was indeed raped or not before they would file any legal action against the woman if they would prove that she was falsely accusing the police officers of rape.
/dbs
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