Osmeña to cops: Pull trigger

CEBU CITY — "Go ahead, pull the trigger."

Extremely upset over Thursday’s rape and robbery of a young woman from Cagayan de Oro City who came here for the Sinulog, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said policemen can go ahead and shoot if a similar incident happens again.

"As mayor, my warning to anybody doing a thing like this is I will see to it that you’ll be dead on the spot," he said.

"If this happens again before your eyes, just pull the trigger," Osmeña told the policemen who brought the woman to City Hall to see him, along with the suspect, Giovanni Racho of Banawa, 18, who was arrested hours after the incident.

Racho denied raping the young woman inside a downtown inn, but admitted he was both drunk and high on drugs at the time.

Racho was waiting on the stairs of the inn for a friend who was in a room with a prostitute when the young woman came up and passed him on her way to her room.

Racho followed and gained entry to her room and there allegedly attacked her with an empty bottle and raped her. He also allegedly took her wallet, bracelet and cellphone before fleeing.

"If we catch you, you will be so sorry, and you won’t be around," Osmeña said.

The same belligerence had driven Osmeña into an earlier controversy when he announced the creation of a special police team that would "seek and destroy" criminals.

Days after his announcement, a series of vigilante-like killings of 13 suspected criminals began, and blame immediately fell on his "Hunters’ Team." However, there is still no evidence directly linking the group to the killings.

Despite an outcry against the summary executions, Osmeña refused to take back his announcement which he made in frustration over the rising criminality in the city.

Osmeña said it is not only the city government that was saddened by Thursday’s incident but the entire Cebuano community because it happened during the celebration of the Sinulog.

While the city government can never make up to the victim for what happened to her, Osmeña said he would fill in the "blank spaces" by providing her with legal assistance to ensure that she gets justice.

He also promised to help her with a scholarship if she chooses.

Meanwhile, Richard Buscayno, regional president of the controversial Alpha Kappa Rho (Akrho) fraternity, of which Racho claimed to be a member, said he has yet to check if Racho is, indeed, a member of the fraternity.

If he is found to be a member, he will be promptly dismissed, Buscayno said.

On behalf of the fraternity, he apologized to the victim and promised her P5,000 in assistance.

Akrho became controversial because of its ongoing war with rival Tau Gamma Phi fraternity, which has already claimed several lives.

The rape incident also struck a sensitive chord in Cebu businessmen, a number of whom have offered assistance to the woman, among them Michel Lhuillier, Joseph Gaisano and the people of SM City, Carlos Gothong Foundation and Ayala Center, who each promised P10,000 in cash or gift certificates.

The Cebu Ferries Corp. also promised to provide free transportation to the woman between Cagayan de Oro and Cebu as she pursues her case against Racho.

Globe Telecoms, for its part, offered to replace and upgrade the cellphone which Racho allegedly stole from her, while the Lihok Filipina Foundation will provide her temporary shelter, counseling and a lawyer. — Freeman News Service