British tourist cries rape; cops make arrest

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Police have arrested a resort cook for the alleged rape of a British tourist in Boracay recently.

Senior Inspector Joeffer Cabural, head of the police’s Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC), said the rape charge has been filed at the Aklan provincial prosecutor’s office in Kalibo last Monday against Carlo San Jose, 36.

The victim, a 23-year-old British woman, reported the rape to the BTAC on January 26, shortly after the sexual assault took place.

Cabural said the woman and San Jose, who works as a cook in the resort where the victim had been staying, had a drinking spree the night before the alleged rape.

The woman told police that when she became intoxicated, the suspect did not bring her back to the resort but to a staff house in Barangay Balabag in Boracay where the alleged rape occurred.

Members of the BTAC arrested San Jose at the staff house.

The woman also underwent medical examination, which showed signs of rape, Cabural said.

San Jose, now at the BTAC, denied raping the woman and claimed that she was his girlfriend.

“Even if they are lovers, it does not mean necessarily mean that there was no rape because there is even marital rape,” Cabural said.