Boy, 15, Draws Jail Term for Raping Girl, 5

Published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer

DAGUPAN CITY-After almost two months of marathon hearings, a judge here ordered a 15-year-old boy to suffer in jail for at least two years when he reaches 18 years old for raping a 5-year-old girl in November last year.

Judge Silverio Castillo, presiding judge of the Family Court here, ordered the teenager to pay the girl P50,000 in moral damages and sentenced him to suffer two to four years in prison.

Castillo directed the city warden to immediately transfer the boy to the Department of Social Welfare and Development regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth in Bauang, La Union.

He also ordered the DSWD to submit to the court a quarterly progress report on the condition of the boy at the center.

The boy pleaded guilty to the rape charges during his arraignment on March 10.

Meanwhile, Castillo sent a 9-year-old married man to six months in jail on Friday for seducing a 17-year-old college student here.

The court found Luis Corpuz Jr. of Mangatarem town guilty of seduction and ordered him to pay the girl P50,000 in damages.

Castillo said Corpuz, although married, succeeded in having sexual relations with the girl, a high school student, after he promised to marry her.

The court said Corpuz, whose wife is working abroad, deceived the victim on his civil status.

Elsa Pecache,
PDI Northern Luzon Bureau