Lebanese 'flashes' 2 girls in Manila

MANILA, Philippines -  A Lebanese man was jailed yesterday after two girls, aged nine and 12, accused him of showing them his genitals while they were playing near his store in Malate, Manila the day before.

The girls, accompanied by their guardians, said they were in front of their grandmother’s bakery store when Mahmoud Obid, 38, who owns a sari-sari store next door, invited them to come into his house.

The girls said they refused, and Obid reportedly pulled down his shorts and exposed himself. They said they were scared and hid in their grandmother’s bakery store.

At the Women’s and Children’s Protection Office of the Manila Police District, Obid refused to talk to reporters. His Filipina wife, Angela, 25, said the girl’s allegations were fabricated since the girls’ relatives had quarreled over the sale of a soft drink.

The girls’ grandfather, however, said Angela called him on and asked him to forgive her husband – she said the waistband of his shorts was loose and he did not intend to expose himself.

Obid, a saloon worker in Lebanon, is facing violation of the anti-child abuse law, according to Chief Inspector Anita Araullo.