Cop gets 40 years for teen’s rape

MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City court has a convicted a policeman who raped a girl in Quezon City last year.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 229 Judge Maria Gilda Loja-Pangilinan sentenced Chief M/Sgt. Galahad Altarejos to 40 years in prison or reclusion perpetua in a decision dated Feb. 6, 2023.

In her ruling, the judge found Altarejos guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Republic Act 8353 or the anti-rape law.

She gave credence to the testimony of the girl, who was 17 years old when the rape occurred in  January 2022.

To warrant a conviction, the judge said the following elements of the offense of rape must be proven: the respondent had sexual intercourse with the victim, the act was done without the complainant’s consent, and it was done through force and intimidation.

The judge said prosecutors established there was rape as the victim did not consent to Altarejos’ sexual advances.

The court did not give weight to Altarejos’ alibi that he and the girl were in a relationship. He was 48 at the time of the rape.

On the issue of the absence of a fierce and physical struggle on the part of the victim, the judge observed that even in fear, the victim “was able to express outrage and disbelief” at what the respondent was about to do to her.

“She would later on plead with him and struggle but her hands were held by the accused. Futile as they may have been, those acts by the private complainant, by themselves, evidently expressed her lack of consent to the sexual act,” the ruling read.

Altarejos, a former member of the Quezon City Police District’s Crime Laboratory, visited the victim and her aunt at their house.

Altarejos and the victim knew each other as the respondent was a regular customer at her aunt’s eatery.

An investigation revealed Altarejos raped the girl in her room when the victim’s aunt went outside.

The victim said she asked Altarejos to leave but the latter grabbed her and pulled her into her room, where she was sexually assaulted.