President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the police to profile persons who could be the possible “serial rapists” preying on young girls in Quezon province.
During the situation briefing in Taal Tuesday night, the President also said he might send government troops “in civilian clothes” to resolve the problem if the police could not effectively improve the peace and order situation in Quezon.
“Almost a good number of these incidents happened in Quezon. So please inform the provincial command to come up with a surveillance system of government workers,” President Duterte said, addressing police acting chief Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa.
“I hate profiling. I do not like it but we are forced to do it. These girls are innocent then somebody will rape them. If you will let him alive, cut his penis. So that he will be sad all the days of his life,” Duterte added.
He also said the high number of rape cases has become “intolerable,” the latest victim of which was an eight-year-old girl from Candelaria town.
“Why are there are so many young girls being raped? Otherwise, I’ll be forced to call upon the Army to participate, go covert in civilian clothes, and help,” Duterte said.
For his part, Gamboa said the President’s directive was relayed to the Quezon police director, since Calabarzon police chief Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. was also present in the briefing.
As this developed, Ricardo Bongalon Burce, 55, a suspect in the rape-slay case of the eight-year-old girl in Candelaria, was found dead inside the custodial facility of the municipal police station on Wednesday morning.
According to an initial report from the Candelaria police, Burce did not respond when a fellow inmate was trying to wake him up at about 6 a.m. Inmates then noticed that he was no longer breathing.
Police officers rushed the suspect to the Candelaria District Hospital in Barangay Masin Norte but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
Burce was accused of raping and killing the girl who had gone missing for one week and whose body was found in a grassy area of a subdivision in Barangay Masin Sur on Jan. 6.