COTABATO CITY - Officials and other aggrieved sectors in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Monday took turns in condemning a reported gang-rape involving a 21-year-old nurse serving a village in South Upi, Maguindanao, even as they urged authorities to bring to the bar of justice the 14 suspects detained Saturday. "We condemn in strongest term what happened as I have ordered concerned agencies to speed up the corresponding investigation and prosecution processes to give justice to the victim and her family," ARMM acting Gov. Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong told newsmen upon learning about the incident. Dr. Kadil "Jojo" Sinolinding Jr.,
ARMM regional health secretary, aired similar condemnation and assured that his agency will take care of the medical and other immediate needs of the victim, who is currently confined at a government hospital here under tight policy security. Maguindanao Integrated Health Office Chief Dr. Tahir Sulaik said his office and local chapters of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) alongside cause-oriented groups have set a rally here Tuesday, to protest the fate the nurse-trainee in the hands of suspected rapists believed to be "intoxicated or high in drugs." The victim, a recipient of the Department of Labor and Employment-funded Nurses Assistance for Rural Services project, belongs to the third batch of the NARS program in Maguindanao where a recipient-trainee gets an P8,000 monthly stipend, said Sulaik.
