And I'm off!

For a vacation, that is. So no postings in the meantime, if I can help it. When on vacation, I try to stay away from the computer and cellphone, especially if there are calls or texts from Manila. I was unsuccessful in doing the above in my last 10-day holiday and ended getting hooked again on Manila issues. Anyway, I hope to return with some kwento about my trip. And maybe post some nice photos, too.

So allow me to leave you with this story on Marianeth Amper, the child who hanged herself recently. Turns out she was raped. So much for the Presidentita's "too much politics" theory. But then again, it's no surprise. This is one woman who's out of touch with reality because she lives in a fantasy world right in her head where she is beautiful, bright, and loved by all. I think doctors have a term for that...psychosis?

Btw, doesn't Mayor Duterte sound like he is no longer a fan of the Presidentita as well? Hmmm...I wonder.

Marianeth was raped – NBI
By Edith Regalado
Phil. Star Nov. 16, 2007

DAVAO CITY — Results of the autopsy conducted yesterday on the exhumed remains of 12-year-old Marianeth Amper, who was earlier reported to have committed suicide allegedly because of extreme poverty, showed she was raped.

“In my theory, in my book, the girl took her life because she was raped and not because of poverty,” Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said during a press conference here early last night wherein the results of the autopsy were presented to the media.

“From now on, the death of Marianeth, would be the subject of criminal investigation and not suicide as somebody else could have also killed her,” Duterte said.

According to Southern Mindanao Crime Laboratory Office head Dr. Tomas Dimaandal Jr., who conducted the autopsy, Amper’s genitals bore lacerations that could indicate rape.

Dimaandal likewise said that Amper died of a single neck injury based on the trauma that emerged wherein a single ligature mark was seen on her neck.

The medico-legal officer also stressed that Amper was not pregnant contrary to earlier speculations.

Duterte pointed out that any sexual penetration on a girl as young as Amper would be considered rape even if she could have consented to it because of her young age.

“That is rape,” the mayor quipped.

Duterte said he already ordered Talomo police station chief Superintendent Matthew Baccay to invite Amper’s father, Isabelo, for questioning.

“I would really like to ask the father why he reported the incident to the police only last November 6 when the incident happened on November 2. Any father in his right mind would really go to the police and report the case immediately since it is your daughter who has died in that way,” Duterte said. (The rest at Phil. Star.)