Policeman charged for detaining student

CEBU, Philippines - A policeman is facing charges before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office (CPPO) for allegedly detaining a 19-year-old student in an old municipal building of Sta. Fe, Cebu.

PO1 George Gilbuela, who is married and assigned at the Bantayan Police Station, was sued for serious illegal detention.

In the affidavit of the victim who is from Barangay Putian, Bantayan, Cebu, she alleged that Gilbuela illegally detained her for a week from April 5 until she was rescued on April 12, 2013.

She said that at about 9:00 p.m. of April 5, the respondent went to their house as he was courting her. Because she was scared of him, the victim said she stayed in her room and it was her mother and brother Rey who entertained the respondent.

“I did not go out of my room as I was afraid of him as he kept on texting me and threatened to harm me, my family and my classmates as he was also our professor in Political Science and PE Crim III,” she stated in her affidavit.

While she was inside her room, she said she heard the respondent said goodbye and that he will return the following day.

She said the respondent kept on texting her that something will happen to her family if she won’t go with him.

The Freeman contacted the respondent to get his side but failed.

Because of that threat, the victim said that without the knowledge of her mother she went with the respondent who took her to the beach.

She also said the respondent brought her to a hotel in Cebu City while the latter was rendering his duty at the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO). After that, she was taken again to the old municipal building of Sta. Fe where she was rescued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Bantayan Police and other government agencies.

Belinda, the mother of the victim, said that on April 5, 2013 she checked the room of her daughter but she did not find her there. The following day, she said she called the respondent and asked for the whereabouts of her daughter but he denied knowing where she was.

Belinda said she had the incident recorded in the blotter of the Bantayan Police Station.  (FREEMAN)