In what could be a regional or national record of dubious repute, a former Overseas Filipino Worker has been found guilty of one count of rape by sexual assault and 659 counts of child abuse committed against his own niece from 2016 to 2021.
A source told the Tribune that the 46-year-old Virac resident was accused of one count of sexual abuse and 659 counts of acts of lasciviousness in relation to Section 10 of Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
But when he was brought before the Regional Trial Court for arraignment, the accused, through counsel, immediately offered to plead guilty to lesser offenses, to which the defense agreed.
In the sexual abuse case, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of rape by sexual assault, for which RTC Branch 43 Acting Presiding Judge Genie G. Gapas-Agbada sentenced him to suffer imprisonment of four years and two months, as minimum, to eight years as maximum.
In the 659 counts of acts of lasciviousness, the accused pleaded guilty to violation of Section 10 of Republic Act 7610 covering other acts of child abuse and was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and one day, as minimum, to seven years and one day, as maximum, for each count.
This means that with the jail sentence totaling at least 3,958 years, he would certainly spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The Court likewise ordered him to pay the victim P75,000 as civil indemnity, P75,000 as moral damages, and P75,000 as exemplary damages in the rape by sexual assault case.
For the other 659 cases, the accused was told to pay a total of P525,000 as civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages to the victim.
There was no pronouncement in the decision that the indemnity and damages would be applied for each count.
According to a source who declined to be identified for lack of authority to speak on the matter, the sexual abuse allegedly began in March 2016 and ended last August 2021, with the victim claiming that the suspect sexually touched her a total of 3,074 times over the five-year period.
Sometime in March 2016, the accused arrived from his overseas stint and settled in at a house near the victim’s residence as he and one of the latter’s parents are siblings.
One day, at about 8 AM as his wife left for the market, he allegedly asked the girl, who was then 11 or 12 years old and a Grade 5 pupil, to watch TV at the man’s house together with her young cousin.
As the boy watched TV at the sala, the accused allegedly held her hand and led her into his room.
After closing the door, he sat on the bed and then told her to sit on his lap.
He then caressed and then kissed her on the face and neck, eventually reaching inside her dress to mash her breasts, she told the police.
The accused then inserted his hands into her underwear and private organ, asking her if she would like to have sex with him. She said she refused, with her uncle not insisting on his request.
Afterwards, it is claimed, the accused gave her chocolates and gifts, a pattern that was repeated in the succeeding incidents.
In most cases, he reportedly told her to list all the things she needed and then told her to come to his house in the kitchen where they would meet when everybody in the house was already asleep.
From three times that March 2016, the lascivious acts were committed about four times a month afterwards until February 2017.
Then it resumed in April that same year for four times before escalating to five times every night during Wednesdays and Sundays from May to December 2017.
It was also five times nightly every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday every week in 2018 and then the same frequency during the next two years.
From January to August of 2021, they met five times daily during Wednesdays and Thursdays, she alleged.
During those five years, the victim said, her uncle made it a habit to drive her and her cousins to and from school.
The information did not indicate how the sexual abuse ended, whether she told anyone in her family or went to the police on her own volition.
According to an RTC source, compared to just 33 cases of acts of lasciviousness in 2021, the number ballooned to 719 this year as of Aug. 31 after the 659 cases against the former Virac OFW were filed.