AN EMPLOYEE of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Witness Protection Program (WPP) was placed under preventive suspension, following allegations that he repeatedly raped a 21-year-old woman inside a safehouse in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
The marshal named “Billy,” who was disarmed last Friday, will not receive his salary for three months, pending the result of the police’s investigation, said Assistant Regional Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila, who is the WPP implementer in Central Visayas.
In an earlier report, Claire (real name withheld) went to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) last Friday morning, a day after she was brought home from the WPP’s safehouse. She was accompanied by her parents.
Claire accused Billy of raping her 36 times between January and March this year.
Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of LLCPO, referred the complainant to the Guadalupe Police Station in Cebu City because the incidents allegedly happened within the station’s jurisdiction.
Formal directive
Avila yesterday handed a letter to Cebu City Police Office Director Mariano Natuel Jr., asking the latter’s office to investigate the incident.
She said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had ordered one after she was informed about the matter.
Meanwhile, Natuel said they will conduct an ocular inspection of the safehouse and will interview the other women there.
“Adtuon namo ang lugar kung dako ba ang posibilad nga ma-rape siya didto (We want to check to see if she can be raped there),” he said.
He said they will also check the background of the alleged victim and the suspect.
Claire said there were two to three other women in the safehouse, but Billy did not allow her to join them in their room. She said she was made to sleep in the living room.
She said Billy threatened to shoot her and her housemates if she told anyone he raped her.
Claire filed a complaint against two men who allegedly raped her last Nov. 26. She was then a third year high school student.
The suspects are detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail.
‘Requirements’
She applied to be placed under the WPP, after filing the complaint. She was accepted in the safe house last December.
Claire’s housemates told the management about her situation.
After she told the WPP head about the repeated rapes, she was sent to undergo a psychiatric test.
The WPP was created through Republic Act 6981, or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act of 1991.
The persons who can be admitted into the program are:
l Any person who has knowledge of or information on the commission of a crime and has testified or is testifying or is willing to testify.
l A witness in a congressional investigation, upon the recommendation of the legislative committee where his testimony is needed and with the approval of the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be.
l A witness who participated in the commission of a crime and who desires to be a State witness.
l An accused who is discharged from an information or criminal complaint by the court in order that he may be a state witness.
No salary for 3 months for
No salary for 3 months for ‘rapist’
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