A resident of San Miguel town was recently arraigned at the Regional Trial Court in Virac on charges that he sexually abused his own niece 160 times since she was just eight years old.
The accused, identified only as “Daddy,” is charged with 127 counts of statutory rape in violation of Art. 366-B of the Revised Penal Code, 31 counts of rape under Art. 166-B par 1(a) of the RPC, and two (2) counts of rape under Art. 266-A part 1 in relation to Art. 266-B of the RPC as amended by Republic Act 11648.
According to a reliable source, the last incident committed by the accused against the victim, who is now 16 years-old, was on April 9, 2024 at around 9 AM, with the others in the evening of January 17, 2024 and during the previous seven years in the family residence in barangay Progreso.
It is claimed that the victim was born out of wedlock to a woman who now has a family of her own after leaving the child to her sister.
The victim’s aunt promised to send her to school until she finished college.
The report also said that the teener does not know who her father is as her mother never told her about it.
A concerned citizen told the police of the child abuse, prompting the Women and Children’s Protection Desk personnel together with the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office to go to the house and rescue the victim.
Just recently, two other men were arrested by police authorities in San Andres and Virac in connection with separate charges of sexual abuse.
On Sept. 9, 2024, joint elements of the San Andres police station, the Catanduanes Police Intelligence Team and the Cainta, Rizal police station arrested vendor Romulo Antonio Santelices, 69, in San Isidro, Cainta.
Santelices will face trial for the unbailable crime of rape for sexually assaulting the daughter of his live-in partner in San Andres, Catanduanes nine years ago.
The following day in Esperanza, San Andres, the police apprehended Fernando Corañez Alano, 49, a caretaker from Cabihian, Virac, who has been accused of six counts of acts of lasciviousness and one count of statutory rape with no bail recommended.