Man, 2 sons accused of raping 10-year-old girl

A 40-year-old man and his two sons are now detained after a 10-year-old girl accused them of raping her in barangay Calamba last Wednesday afternoon while she was sent by her mother to buy ice.

But the accused Joseph Santiago claimed it was the girl who forced him to have sex while his sons Francis and the other, a 17-year-old, denied having any knowledge about it.

Joseph, who is presently detained at the city police stockade along with his sons, claimed that a few months ago the girl usually peeped through their bathroom while he was bathing and eventually went inside and "forced herself on him".

He claimed they would only kiss and hug and seem to have developed a "mutual understanding".

Joseph said there were occasions when he gave the girl P5 or P10 after all those encounters but lately he warned her to stop as somebody might discover what they had been doing.

He said although his sons were innocent they were implicated because a month ago he and the girl's father had a heated argument after the latter reportedly told his sons that he had a mistress.

Joseph said he and the girl's father are both jeepney drivers plying the Urgello-Colon route and the latter saw him talking to a girl and mistook her as his mistress.

But the 10-year-old girl went to the Women and Children's Concern Section, Family Juvenile and Gender Sensitivity Section accompanied by her mother Thursday night and insisted she was raped by the three.

She claimed that as she went out of their house Wednesday afternoon to buy ice as ordered by her mother, upon passing by the residence of the subjects, the three allegedly grabbed her and dragged her to the bathroom and raped her.

The mother of the victim came to the house of the suspects with elements of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch around 11 p.m. Thursday night.

The girl is now under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development while appropriate charges are being prepared against the three. - Ryan P. Borinaga