Negros teen raped by 8 men

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  – An 18-year-old girl alleged she was gang-raped by eight men, including her boyfriend, during a birthday celebration in Barangay Taculing in this city early Sunday morning, police said yesterday. 

The victim, whose name the police withheld, is now confined at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center for injuries she sustained when she fought back, said Chief Inspector Jovy Cabcaban, chief of the Bacolod City police’s Women and Children’s Complaints Desk (WCCD).

The victim said her boyfriend texted her at around 1 a.m. Sunday inviting her to come to his residence, and when she arrived, she saw him and his friends having drinks, Cabcaban said. 

The victim said the eight suspects invited her to join them, and when she became intoxicated, they dragged her to a vacant lot five kilometers away from her boyfriend’s residence and took turns in raping her, Cabcaban said. 

Aside from allegedly raping her, the victim said the suspects took her cellular phone, earrings and cash and left her at a vacant lot, Cabcaban said. 

After the suspects had left, the victim said she was able to seek help and was brought to the hospital, Cabcaban said.

A medical examination by medico-legal officer Eli Cong showed that the victim had several lacerations in her vagina, Bacolod City police chief Senior Superintendent Ricardo de la Paz said. 

WCCD operatives have launched a manhunt operation to arrest the eight suspects but all of them were nowhere to be found as of press time yesterday. 

However, the police would file rape charges against them as they have already been identified, De la Paz said.