A faculty member in one of the higher learning institutions in Benguet is being accused of sexually abusing three women who are his relatives and students when they were still minors.
The complainants – two are sisters and the other their cousin – have narrated the incidents in sworn statements dated July 7 taken by the Women and Children’s Protection Desk of a municipal police station in Benguet.
One of the complainants on Aug. 19 also wrote to the school president at the main campus to complain said teacher, who is their uncle and teacher of one of the complainants in high school and college, since the incidents of sexual abuse allegedly took place inside the campus and school facilities.
She also asked the school administration to help them obtain justice for the abuses they have endured and so that the concerned teacher would stop victimizing other people.
She sought the help of the school head in said campus but did not receive a reply, and that she felt hesitant approaching the administration in the presence of her uncle and aunt in the campus.
The three of them stayed with the spouses in separate occasions starting 2009 at the request of their aunt who in all instances asked them to help in doing household chores and caring for their child, and she would support their studies.
In her statement, the same complainant said the abuses happened in May 2010 when she was 14 years old and in second year of high school; September and October 2011 until March 2013. Based on the details she provided, some of the instances pertained to rape.
She claimed the incidents happened every morning when her aunt was still asleep and in the evening when her aunt came home late. She said she fought back many times but prevailed upon.
She said her uncle told her not to tell her aunt about what he was doing to her and once gave her money.
She learned that her uncle was doing the same to her sister and her cousin. Her sister, who is still a minor, was first abused in April 2016 when she was 13 when it was her turn to stay with her aunt’s family.
She learned her cousin experienced the same from the uncle when she lived with them in 2014 when she was 17 years old.
They then sought the help of their punong barangay who assisted them in filing the complaint.
Together they filed a complaint before the prosecutor’s office in August but their cousin later withdrew her complaint. She claimed she and her sister were offered an amount and believed that their cousin was also offered the same. – Hanna C. Lacsamana
April 25, 2024
