MALOLOS CITY—“Ipapako ko kayo sa krus. [I will crucify you if you indeed committed rape.”]
This was the blunt warning of National Police director general Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa to three Bulacan policemen from the City of Meycauayan who were accused by a 29-year-old mother of rape last March 6 during a police buy-bust operation.
The PNP chief motored yesterday morning at Camp Alejo S. Santos here to personally inquire on the status of the probe on the three cops.
“Effective today, you [the three cops] are all placed under restrictive custody inside the provincial headquarters,” he said. Dela Rosa ordered the cops to undergo a drug test.
The alleged victim, Abegail Edonio, of Caloocan City, said she was visiting a friend, Janet Fundales, in barangay Bangkal, Meycauayan City, when an anti-illegal drugs operations was carried out by four policemen in the area.
Edonio, who gave a videotaped account of her ordeal to GMA-7’s Gene Veneracion, identified three of the four cops in a police lineup last Wednesday (March 14) at the office of Bulacan PNP provincial director Sr. Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr. as PO2 Jefferson Landrito, PO1 Marlo delos Santos, and PO1 Jeremy Aquino.
The alleged rape victim claimed she was collecting payment for a "5-6" loan inside the house together with her two-year-old daughter when the policemen barged in.
“Alam ko po pulis sila kasi may baril,” Edonio said in the TV exclusive interview.
The victim alleged that the cops ordered all persons out of the house as they took turns molesting her. She said she was ordered by one of the cops to allegedly perform oral sex and then raped her.
In front of the PNP chief, the three suspect-cops vehemently denied the allegation.
Dela Rosa ordered lawyer Cristina Alcantara, chief of the Bulacan Police Internal Affairs Service to continue the probe in spite of a text message sent by the victim to the policewoman-on-case that Edonio is not anymore pursuing the case for fear of her life.
The ordeal to her family especially to her children is too much, the victim cited as primary reason for her refusal to cooperate in the probe.