August 15, 2000, The Philippine Star, Surigao gov snubs hearing on rape case, by Delon Porcalla,

August 15, 2000, The Philippine Star, Surigao gov snubs hearing on rape case, by Delon Porcalla, 

Surigao del Sur Gov. Primo Murillo snubbed yesterday the preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) into the rape case filed against him by a 20-year-old college student.

But senior state prosecutor Paulita Acosta-Villarante, head of the DOJ Task Force on Child Abuse and Women Protection, said Murillo can still ventilate his defense during the hearings on Aug. 17 and 24.

"If he still fails to attend the two scheduled hearings, we will have no other choice but to resolve the case by basing it on the evidence presented by the victim," she told reporters.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption said the 42-year-old governor did not also appear before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which subpoenaed him.

Murillo, in a press conference in Manila two weeks ago, professed his innocence on the charges. He said he merely gave the alleged victim's mother, Minerva Espinosa, a fiscal examiner in his office, two checks for P20,000 each because she needed money for her sick daughter.

The college student alleged that Murillo first sexually molested her on June 25 last year when the governor asked her to accompany him to SM City in North EDSA to buy a tennis racket.

She claimed she felt drowsy and weak when she ate the candy Murillo had given her and that she later found herself naked in a room at a Quezon City hotel.

The next two rape incidents, she alleged, happened at a Mandaluyong City hotel.

The alleged victim's relatives debunked Murillo's claim that the rape complaint was filed merely to harass the governor and extort P2 million from him.

Ronald Espinosa, the alleged victim's brother, said it was Murillo who desperately wanted to settle the case.