Nueva Ecija vice mayor charged with rape

MANILA, Philippines - Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija Vice Mayor Romeo Borja Jr. was charged with rape before the Department of Justice yesterday.

The 18-year-old victim, known by the alias Jasmin, alleged that Borja raped her at least six times from June to September in different places in their town.

She was joined by a former house helper of the vice mayor, who also claimed to be his victim. The woman, whose alias is Mina, said she had filed a qualified seduction case in Cabanatuan City against Borja.

The vice mayor’s driver, Fritz Taguinin, and their common friend Denden Escuadro were also named respondents in the case.

In her six-page affidavit, Jasmin said she first met Borja in April last year during the coronation of a local beauty contest where he presented her with an award.

She said Borja courted her, but she rejected him.

The victim said she got drunk when she was invited by a friend for a drink last July and upon waking up, found herself naked in a room with the vice mayor.

“I cried and pleaded to him to stop. I shouted for help but nobody came to help me. I tried to fight him but he was strong,” the victim said in Filipino.

After a few days, she said the vice mayor contacted and raped her again after threatening that he would distribute a supposed sex video he took during the first incident.

She claimed Borja raped her at gunpoint four more times in the next two months, one at the vice mayor’s office.

Last October, she said she told the respondent she was pregnant with their child. The latter allegedly told her to find an abortionist and promised to give her a scholarship and a house, among others.

Jasmin said she confided her situation to her mother only last February. She said it took them three months to file a case knowing that Borja’s family is “very powerful and influential.” Borja’s father, Romeo Sr., is the town mayor.