Judge clears Manila cop of rape

MANILA, Philippines - A judge acquitted yesterday a policeman accused of raping a vendor in the Manila Police District (MPD) headquarters on Dec. 31, 2010.

In a 20-page decision, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 3 Judge Jaime Santiago cleared former Police Officer 3 Antonio Bautista Jr. of the charge of rape filed against him by the vendor after results of a medico-legal examination on the 30-year-old vendor indicated she had not been raped.

Santiago also gave credence to the testimony of the victim’s friend, Ma. Victoria Burgos, who said the victim and her partner, Joseph Cierbo, told her they filed the case to extort money from Bautista.

Santiago himself is a former policeman. He used to head the Special Weapons and Tactics unit of the Western Police District, now called the MPD.

“The prosecution, having failed to prove the guilt of PO3 Antonio L. Bautista with moral certainty, he is hereby acquitted of the crime of rape,” Santiago said. “Accused is likewise exonerated from any civil liability.”

He ordered the Manila City Jail warden to release Bautista “unless he is being detained for some other lawful cause.”

Manila RTC Branch 20 Judge Marivic Balisi-Umali, who previously handled the case, issued a warrant for Bautista’s arrest on March 30, 2011.

Bautista, who was dismissed from the police service sometime last year, surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation on May 17, 2011. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Umali denied his petition for bail.

The vendor had claimed Bautista, after arresting her for vagrancy, raped her on top of a table in the office of the MPD’s Integrity Task Force and robbed her of P4,000.