Originally Posted by
graphicare
hmmmm......try to email gma news and abs-cbn para makalat ni
or send me the video akoy buhat ug website para lang ani!
pero based sa inquirer report wa man daw case na ing-ani..try to read this
No rape of 2 Filipinas in Abu Dhabi—embassy
INQUIRER.net First Posted 13:35:00 04/12/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Reacting to the stories circulating on the Internet, the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi investigated the issue of the reported rape of two Filipinas behind the Marina Mall there and concluded that the incident did not happen, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
The stories that passed from e-mail to e-mail were usually accompanied by a video footage and photographs of an unidentified woman with severe cuts all over her face and body; she is allegedly one of the rape victims.
Philippine Ambassador to Abu Dhabi Grace Relucio Princesa thus submitted a comprehensive report to the home office, concluding that the alleged rape and the unidentified victim on the video and photographs as “two separate and unrelated issues.”
The DFA thus asked the public to stop spreading such rumors and videos until their veracity is verified.
The Philippine embassy in Amman, Jordan had a similar experience when a YouTube video showed a woman, purportedly a Filipina, being brutally murdered by a mob in Jordan allegedly over an illicit affair. It turned out that the video was that of an Iraqi woman earlier aired by CNN.
On the Abu Dhabi video, the embassy said the rumor started on February 22 from an e-mail from a certain “Edward Enoc” that circulated among the members of the Filipino community there. The e-mail alleged that one Filipina died on the spot while the other escaped and sought medical assistant at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) hospital, where she died a few days later.
The following day, the embassy dispatched an assistance-to-nationals (ATN) team to visit the SKMC, other hospitals, and the city morgue to look for the victims. However, nurses at SKMC, Al Noor, and Lifeline hospital said no rape victims were admitted at their facilities.
The city morgue also told the ATN team that it has not received an unidentified female body that bore signs of physical abuse.
The same ATN team then proceeded to the Shabeya and Mina police stations in Abu Dhabi where it was told that the authorities did not receive any reports of two Filipinas being raped.
The embassy also contacted two high-ranking officers from the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigation Division (CID), seeking clarification on the alleged rape at the Marina Mall. No such case was brought to their attention.
On February 24, Ambassador Princesa personally spoke with Filipino nurses in SKMC to further determine if a rape victim had been admitted to the hospital. The nurses said no victim of sexual or physical abuse sought medical help at SKMC.
The embassy also wrote SKMC chief executive officer Dr. Tajmaini Maini to inquire about the alleged rapes. In response, Atul C. Mehta of SKMC wrote that the hospital did not treat any patient for rape or physical abuse.
On March 15, Ambassador Princesa met with Filipino community leaders and told them that the alleged rape of two Filipinas is not true and requested them to remind their members to refrain from further spreading the rumor.
On April 4, a Filipina identified as “Mimi Labrador” met with embassy officials and handed over a video of an unidentified woman being treated for severe cuts in an unidentified medical facility. Rumors that the woman in the video was one of the two Filipinas raped behind the Marina Mall were revived.
A Filipina senior administrative nurse at SKMC viewed the video and told embassy officials that the surroundings of the room where the victim was being treated were not those of SKMC. She added that the attending physicians were speaking in Egyptian; SKMC allows only English in its emergency and operating rooms.
Moreover, the Filipina nurse said that as the victim showed signs of torture, it would have been impossible for police authorities to have no knowledge of her admission because there are police offices at the entrance of SKMC, as with all government hospitals in the United Arab Emirates.
The embassy also invited a high-ranking CID officer to view the same video and he relayed that though the content of the video itself is not in question, it would be impossible to know the identity of the woman based on the video alone.
He added that attending physicians were asking the victim in Egyptian, "Who did this to you? Your boyfriend? Do you have a baby from him?" The victim did not say a word and only moaned in pain.
The CID officer also said that Abu Dhabi police authorities are obligated to report cases involving severe physical abuse to his office, which has not received any report of this nature.
The embassy gave the CID officer a copy of the video for further investigation. To date, the CID officer informed post that there has not been any reported case involving severe slash wounds inflicted on a Filipina.
“UAE officials, particularly from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Health and Labor have been very supportive in ensuring the welfare of Filipinos in the country. Abu Dhabi police authorities have, in fact, been helpful in protecting distressed Filipinos. In addition, the UAE government has time and again reiterated its commitment in protecting and promoting human rights in the country,” Princesa said.
She added that the rumor about an alleged city-wide cover-up about the rape of two Filipinas is baseless and untrue but that the embassy will remain vigilant and will continue to monitor any development concerning the said case.
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