TAIWANESE P50 MILLION EXTORTION ATTEMPT

• CELSO M. CAJUCOM 

CABANATUAN City –   A Taiwanese locator of the Subic Bay Free Port Zone has been accused of rape but the 17-year-old alleged rape victim said the businessman was actually innocent.

Three counts of rape, corruption of minor and serious illegal detention were filed against the Taiwanese before the Prosecutor Office in Olongapo City in Zambales on Feb. 13, 2025.

Lawyer Merlito Lovensky Fernandez, a former president of the Coalition Against Corruption, represented the Taiwanese on court and claimed the complaint was fabricated. He also said a group of people has demanded P50 million from the businessman to settle the case.

The case was transferred from Olongapo to Nueva Ecija Provincial Prosecutor Office in Cabanatuan City, to get an equal treatment, consideration and essential protections which was granted by the Department of Justice (DoJ), said Fernandez.

The case was raffled off to the Office of Prosecutor Julius Caesar Mustard in  Nueva Ecija based on Regional Order 25-014 signed by Regional Prosecutor Office-in-Charge Giselle Marie Geronimo dated May 30, 2025.

The hearing scheduled on August 14 was cancelled, the hearing was reset on Aug. 28.

 The victim who was present at the hearing along with her mother and father and grandfather while none of the complainants unattended held at Hall of Justice in Cabanatuan City.

In her affidavit submitted to the Nueva Ecija Prosecutor’s Office, the alleged victim claimed the signature in the complaint against the Taiwanese was not hers also with her mother Lacsina Ann Sinlao which was represented by a certain Juana Marquez.

 She also denied being in Olongapo City on Feb. 13, 2025 and has never met Assistant City Prosecutor Lilia Elizabeth Hinanay-Escusa, who supposedly administered her oath on that day., said reporters here.

The complaint said that the victim, who was 15 years old back then, was allegedly raped three times by the Taiwanese businessman while illegally detained for three days in his resthouse at Kalayaan Heights, Subic Freezone Port, Zambales in July 2022. 

In response of the invented complaint and false accusation against client.  He will file counter charges on falsification, serious illegal detention and child abuse against them, said Fernandez 

Fernandez accompanied by his fellow Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption chairman Atty. Manuel Obidoza who was present at the hearing, supporting to protect the victim and her family.