MMDA offers P.2-M reward for van-riding rapists

MANILA, Philippines - Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday offered a P200,000 reward for information that would lead to the persons behind the reported abductions at Magallanes interchange in Makati City.

“We have to take these incidents seriously and act quickly for the arrest of the suspects,” Tolentino said.

Reports said a 21-year-old student and a 19-year-old transgender, were snatched from the area by three men in a heavily tinted van and were raped in the vehicle.

The student said she was walking along EDSA-Magallanes when a van stopped in front of her and three men in ski masks grabbed her, slapped a handkerchief soaked in a chemical that rendered her unconscious and raped her in the van.

She was left for dead on the side of a highway in Malolos, Bulacan.

The transgender said he was also grabbed by three men and forced into a heavily tinted van at the interchange and was raped in the vehicle.

Tolentino said the MMDA will install additional closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at the area as a possible deterrent against future attacks. Tolentino added that he has also asked the National Capital Region Police Office to field additional police officers in the area.

The Makati police, meanwhile, has formed a team to track down the persons responsible for the abductions.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Ernesto Barlam said investigators have started gathering CCTV footage taken by cameras along the route taken by the kidnappers, based on the victims’ accounts.

He said they have also started drawing sketches of the kidnappers in a bid to identify them.