MANILA, Philippines - Only one, and not a group of men, was behind the rape of a 21-year-old volunteer nurse in South Upi town in Maguindanao last month, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.
In an interview, De Lima told reporters that a forensic test conducted by the National Bureau Investigation showed that only “one DNA profile” of a still unknown person was found on the victim named as “Florence.”
“The DNA profile points to a single perpetrator. It’s most probably not gang rape; that is what the NBI is looking into now. It may not be a conclusion yet, but so far the evidence points to that – that it’s most probably not a gang rape,” she revealed.
De Lima also admitted, based on the initial NBI report, that the DNA sample recovered from the victim did not match those taken from the six men earlier arrested but later on released due to lack of evidence and also from Melchor Fulgencio, who had admitted raping the nurse but later on retracted.
“It’s not any of the six, and it’s not Fulgencio,” she assured.
With this development, De Lima said she has instructed the NBI and also the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group unit of the Philippine National Police in the province to pursue other angles, including the reported involvement of South Upi Vice Mayor Jordan Ibrahim in the incident.
“We’re not completely ruling out (his involvement). It’s been going around there, but the locals are very scared to speak. He (Ibrahim) seems to be a very powerful man there,” she lamented.
Rape charges were filed against arrested suspects before Prosecutor Akdal Balt by the South Upi municipal police station.
But the fiscal last week cleared the six suspects because provincial prosecutors did not find sufficient evidence to charge them for the crime.
Those who were cleared were Glenn Saldoa, Rustom Sangclap, Michael Candelario, Jeffrey Fernandez, Eugene Biscara and Darwin Escalona.
As for Fulgencio, De Lima said she has ordered the local prosecutors to pursue investigation on him because “his version (of how the rape was carried out) is partly true, but not completely true.”
Fulgencio, a former militiaman, said he and a certain “alias Edwin” committed the crime. Later, he retracted his “admission,” saying he was only forced to make that statement.
Reports revealed the victim was seen with the suspects inside a videoke bar in Barangay Timanan, just few meters away from a police outpost last Sept. 25.
On the morning of the next day, she was later found naked and unconscious by some of the bystanders in a cornfield, also in Barangay Timanan.