LINGAYEN— Here’s a warning to would-be rapists.

Records at the Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) at the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office here show there the recorded 77 rape victims (from January to September this year) of whom 66 were children and the rest are 18 years old and above, all filed cases against their attackers.

Finally, victims are learning to fight back to seek justice and are no longer afraid of perceived social stigma that victims have to suffer if the crime is made public.

The youngest rape victim was a girl, one year and eight months old from Sta. Barabra while the oldest was 76 from Lingayen, and most are from poor families.

P/Sr. Insp. Genevieve Poblete, WCPD chief said, that the victims and their relatives are now bolder in reporting the crime to the police, especially with the help of the media.

Poblete identified the top five towns/cities in Pangasinan with the highest number of reported rape cases as: Dagupan City with 10; Bugallon, eight, Urdaneta City, seven, Malasiqui and Calasiao, six and five, respectively.

In all the reported cases, charges have been filed against the suspects.

Poblete said that while most of the perpetrators are not related to their victims, some cases involved family members.

She noted one case wherein, three siblings were reportedly sexually abused by their father and one of them became pregnant. However, in this case, the victims’ mother sided with her husband and defended him in the case.

The police officer also said the suspects were usually either under the influence of liquor or drugs when the crime was committed.

In 2012, a total of 101 children were reported rape victims and another 11 were adult women.—Eva Visperas

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