Freddie charged with qualified seduction

MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Aguilar “deserves to be castrated” for having a relationship with a 16-year-old girl, according to a lawyer who filed qualified seduction charges against the 60-year-old folk singer before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.

“This cradle snatcher wants to take advantage of the adulation of the child by pretending to be loving her and allegedly marrying her later. This old man deserves to be castrated to spare the children,” lawyer Fernando Perito said in his two-page complaint filed on Tuesday but released by the prosecutor’s office yesterday.

Perito charged Aguilar with qualified seduction under Article 337 of the Revised Penal Code.

Perito said that he was outraged, offended, and scandalized by the acts of Aguilar for publicly bragging that he is in love with a 16-year-old girl.

“His admission in the television showed (that) he even had the temerity and boldness to brag and challenge that he is in ‘love.’ He is lusting,” the lawyer added in his complaint-affidavit.

Predator?

Perito said Aguilar’s admission and his public display of love and affection violated morals and ethics on separating the adult from a child and the prey from the predator.

“What this old man had done was to prey on the innocent child (young) enough to be his granddaughter after allegedly being separated from his wife, which is no excuse,” he added.

The lawyer said in his complaint “that undoubtedly, having the child in home and company, the conclusion is the old man had been engaging in all kinds of sexual orgies with the child. If the parents consented, they should be held criminally liable.”

The case will undergo preliminary investigation to determine if there is probable cause to file the case in court.

Based on the Revised Penal Code, “the seduction of a virgin over twelve years and under eighteen years of age, committed by any person in public authority, priest, home-servant, domestic, guardian, teacher, or any person who, in any capacity, shall be entrusted with the education or custody of the woman seduced, shall be punished by prison correccional in its minimum and medium periods.”

Aguilar earlier defended the relationship and said that it was love at first sight. He also said his third wife was only 17 years old when he started dating her.

In an interview with radio station dzMM, Aguilar said he is ready to face the complaint.

“If I will not face it, it would appear that I agree with what they are doing,” he said, adding that his girlfriend was hurt by this development.