DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in Negros Oriental arrested a man and his son in a remote mountain village of Najandig in Zamboanguita town for statutory and incest rape of two minor family members.
The suspects were arrested close to midnight Monday by virtue of arrest warrants, dated August 5, 2014 and issued by Judge Mercedita Sarsaba of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 31 in Dumaguete City.
NBI special investigator Nick Tagle said the 57-year-old father and his 30-year-old son were charged each with four counts of rape for allegedly molesting two girls in the family sometime in 2011.
The girls were aged 11 and 12 when allegedly raped by their older brother and their father at different times, Tagle said.
However, it was only in May this year that the alleged sexual abuses were disclosed resulting in the filing of cases against the suspects, he said.
Tagle said it took him and his team of NBI agents, accompanied by local police and some civilian armed auxiliaries of the 12th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army assigned at the Najandig detachment, around six hours of trekking on foot to the house of the suspects.
They arrived around 11:30 p.m. Monday in the sub-village of Manyupo, which Tagle described as "rebel-infested," and served the arrest warrants.
Tagle said there was no resistance from the suspects who are now detained at the Negros Oriental Provincial Jail. (FREEMAN)