Rape rap to be filed against habal-habal driver for sexually assaulting female tourist in Moalboal

Moalboal, Cebu./ via Google Maps

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The police in Moalboal town, 85.7 kilometers south of Cebu City, will file rape through sexual assault charges against a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver on Monday, March 4, for allegedly forcing a female tourist to engage in sexual acts with him.

Linton Tabales, 41, was arrested by the Moalboal police on Friday afternoon, March 1, after a 31-year-old Colombian tourist reported that the suspect brought her to a secluded area in Barangay Tuble on the dawn of February 27 and forced her to perform sexual acts with him.

Patrolman Redgie Araza, desk officer of the Moalboal Police Station, said that the victim was in Barangay Basdiot around 1 a.m. on February 27 and hired Tabales to take her back to her hotel in Barangay Tuble.

But instead of taking the tourist to the hotel, Araza said the suspect brought the victim to a secluded area in Barangay Tuble and threatened her that he would not bring her back to the hotel if she would not engage in oral sex with him.

“Nag-inusara man siya (tourist) ato kay murag nag-away-away pod siya sa iyang boyfriend. Gidala siya didto sa mingaw nga area diri gihapon sa Barangay Tuble. Nisugot ni siya nga buhaton to kay gi-threaten man siya sa suspect,” Araza told Cebu Daily News Digital in an interview on Sunday, March 3.

Araza said that they traced the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footages where the tourist hired the habal-habal driver.

“Pagtan-aw nato sa CCTV mao na to nga na-identify ni nato nga siya ang gisakyan sa babayi unya ni-follow up dayon mi pagdakop ani niya. He was positively identified sa victim nga maoy gisakyan niya,” said Araza.

Araza said that the suspect denied the allegations against him.

However, the victim is determined to file charges against Tabales, said Araza./dbs