2 counts of child abuse Swedish national out on bail

CEBU, Philippines - A Swedish national who was charged for two counts of child abuse is now released from detention after Judge Enriqueta Belarmino of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 57 signed the release order of 67-year-old Conny Logstreom who posted P320,000 as recommended bail for his temporary liberty.

 Prosecutor Noel Cellona elevated the case to the court after the accused waived his right to answer the allegations filed against him.

 Cellona recommended P200,000 bail for the violation of Section 5(b) for exploiting children in prostitution and other sexual abuse, and another P120,000 for the violation of Section 10(b) for keeping minors in his company in a hotel.

 In the joint-affidavit executed by the port police, they stated that on February 16, 2012 they received a text message from P/Supt. Glenn Sarador directing them to intercept a “possible suspect of trafficking which was only described as a foreigner with a minor.”

 However, police admitted the failure to intercept the foreigner with a minor when it arrived at the Port of Cebu.

 The police said they only apprehended the foreigner on February 20, 2012 when he was about to board a ship for Masbate.

 When Port Police Inspector Romulo Alcazar Jr. asked the nine-year old girl what was her relation to the foreigner, the minor “hesitantly” answered that the Swedish national was her uncle.

 The police said the foreigner did not show any documents to prove their relationship with the minor prompting them to arrest him.

 Gina Avila, a technical officer of Plan International Inc. based in Masbate advocating children’s rights, stated in her affidavit that she saw a foreigner with a minor inside the vessel which she boarded on her way to Cebu.

 Avila said the foreigner and the minor slept together on the same bed and used the same blanket.

 She added that she had a chance to talk to the minor, a resident of Barangay Aurora, Uson, Masbate.

“The child lives with her grandmother together with six siblings, their mother already deceased and having been abandoned by their father. I asked her how she is related to the foreigner and though hesitant she said the latter is her uncle,” Avila said.

In the affidavit executed by the victim, she said she was from Masbate and she was brought by the accused to Cebu City.

 She said the accused was the fiancée of her Ate Mylene who was their neighbor and that she knew the accused a long time ago.

 The victim said she never knew why the accused brought her to Cebu City.

 However, she admitted that they went to a doctor and that during their trip to Cebu, Mylene was in Pampanga.

 The victim said they shared the same room and she was directed by the foreigner to clean the room while the latter cooked their food.

 The minor said that when they were about to sleep the foreigner kissed her on her cheeks and “dodo (breasts)” while she also kissed the foreigner’s cheeks and sometimes on the lips.

 She said her grandparents knew where she went as the foreigner asked their permission and gave her grandfather money. — (FREEMAN)