9 fratmen rape neophyte

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Police authorities here filed three cases of rape against nine members of a fraternity here who allegedly gang-raped a pretty neophyte sorority member in three separate incidents earlier this month.

Supt. Ricardo Padilla, provincial police director, identified those charged with rape as William Turo, Deo Romano, Balong Pascua, Enteng Aracad, Efren Agaceta, Elmer de Ocampo, Resty Gonzales, Jay-Ar Francisco and Sherwin Macagga.

Padilla informed Cagayan Valley police director Chief Supt. Dominador Resos Jr. that the suspects are now facing rape charges in the sala of Judge Tomas Lasam of the municipal trial court of Aparri for allegedly raping an 18-year-old college student here.

Three of the suspects — Pascua, Agaceta and Francisco — are still at large, while the rest are now detained at the district jail in Tuao town following their arrest in nearby Piat and Alcala towns here.

The suspects, according to police, are members of Beta Kappa fraternity while the alleged victim was undergoing a series of sorority initiations since she was lured to join the group last month.

The first rape incident, investigators disclosed, took place on the night of Oct. 12 when Turo allegedly raped the victim in an isolated and dark portion of a park in Tuao town. This came after the suspect ordered her through another female member, one Delia Caggauan, to report to him for a final initiation.

"William Turo took advantage of the darkness, forcibly removed the victim’s pants and underwear, and succeeded in sexually molesting her," Padilla said.

The following day, Oct. 13, Turo along with Francisco, Pascua, Agaceta and Gonzales brought the victim to the residence of Aracad in nearby Piat town where Macagga and De Ocampo were also waiting.

There, investigators said, the victim was detained overnight and successively raped by the group.

The next morning, Oct. 14, the group brought the victim back to Tuao, but proceeded instead to the residence of Romano, said to be Beta Kappa "master" here.

The group presented the victim as a "gift to a master" wherein she was again raped, this time by Romano.

At Romano’s house, the hapless victim, police said, was able to escape, taking advantage of the group’s slumbering due to extreme drunkenness.

That same day, the victim revealed her ordeal to the mother of her boyfriend, Roderick Catubag, himself a Kappa Beta member.

The mother together with the victim and her boyfriend reported immediately the rape incidents to police authorities.

The victim, after a series of medical examinations, was diagnosed to have been sexually and physically molested.