Student gang-raped in school

CEBU, Philippines - A third year medical technology student in one of the universities in Cebu was allegedly gang-raped in the presence of her own boyfriend inside her school campus.

One of the three suspects, who are friends of the victim’s boyfriend, was arrested by the operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-7 few hours after the alleged rape.

Rape charges were also filed yesterday before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office against Dexter Silangan Paalisbo, 24, of Oslob, Cebu who was arrested during the hot pursuit operation and Darwin Ampil Barbosa and Antonio Molina, who are still at large.

Paalisbo, however, signed a waiver of detention to avail of his right for a preliminary injunction wherein he will be giving a chance to submit controverting evidence.

The 22-year-old victim from Barangay Apas said she was waiting for her friend at the gate of her school past midnight Saturday when she was invited by her boyfriend to join them in the celebration of Paalisbo’s birthday.

The celebration was held inside the school campus (The Freeman is withholding the name of the university pending its official statement) where the suspects work as student guards. The victim, name withheld by The Freeman, said she refused at first but was obliged later out of respect to her boyfriend.

She said she was offered to drink while waiting for her friend until she got drunk. According to the victim, she wanted to rest before going home, prompting her boyfriend to bring him inside Paalisbo’s bunkhouse where they slept together.

However, the victim said she was awakened when she felt something was inserted into her private part. According to her, she immediately stood up and alarmed her boyfriend prompting the suspects to run outside the room.

The victim said she asked a friend of her to call her father to inform him of what had happened. The victim’s father who is a Navy officer reported the incident to the CIDG-7 and a hot pursuit operation was conducted resulting to Paalisbo’s arrest.

Dreams

In an interview with the victim’s father, he told The Freeman that he is very concerned with his daughter’s situation.

The incident, according to him, has greatly affected his daughter’s behavior.

“Mo kalit lang og mata akong anak sa gabi-i. nabalaka gyud ko niya,” he said.

Despite the incident, however, the victim is determined to finish her studies and to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor or a lawyer someday. — /FPL (FREEMAN)