COTABATO CITY - Severe physical injuries have paralyzed half of the body of the nurse-trainee who was gang-raped last September 25 by male residents in South Upi, Maguindanao, a far-flung town she chosed voluntarily to serve under a special government health service program, officials said. The victim, a 21-year-old freshly-registered nurse from this city, has regained consciousness but "the whole right side of her body" has been paralyzed due to her head injuries caused by severe blows from hard objects used by her attackers, Dr. Kadil Sinolinding told reporters after visiting her at a hospital here Friday night.
It may take three to five months for the victim to recover from paralysis, said Sinolinding, who is the regional health secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). But the health official quickly added that in five days, the victim could possibly identify her male abusers through photos her family asked of investigators to take from suspects, six of them are now in police custody. Sinolinding visited the victim with other ARMM officials led by Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo, who turned over to her family additional P64,000 fund assistance, amid conflicting reports about her health condition and whereabouts. Earlier loose talks said the victim had passed away while some radio reports said she remained in coma and was transferred to Davao City. During the ARMM officials' visit, the victim's father received the cash aid, and renewed his appeal for justice in the face of persistent reports that her daughters' abusers belong to influential families in South Upi, a town allegedly infiltrated by illegal drug traffickers and users. Heeding an earlier summon, South Upi Mayor Abdula Campong on Friday morning came over here and personally assured ARMM officials of his "full cooperation" in the intensified probe of the incident. In his meeting behind closed-door with Sinarimbo and DILG-ARMM Secretary Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr., Campong also shed light on allegations that a "son of a politician" in South Upi is involved in the gang-rape and that the six arrested suspects are just "fall guys." Such allegations were being looked into by police probers of the newly formed Task Force Joy (TFJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which started Friday its investigation upon instruction of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Lawyer Roel Plando, executive officer of the ARMM's NBI regional office, has assured that there will be "no whitewash" in the investigations.
"We have looked into the initial actions of the South Upi police and we think there are still more angles that we could look into further with the help of Task Force Joy," said Plando, who aired optimism for the NBI to "catch the real perpetrators." Various sectors have condemned strongly the gang-rape of and slay attempt on the volunteer nurse, saying the incident has compounded the bad image wrought on Maguindanao by the fateful massacre of 57 people including 32 journalists in the province on Nov. 23, 2009.
