TACLOBAN CITY — The camp of Southern Leyte Governor Christopherson Yap has expressed relief after the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Maasin City dismissed the rape and attempted rape cases filed against him.
The governor’s executive secretary Irvin Cabales said on Friday the governor heard the news while he was about to board his flight to the United States.
Cabales maintained Yap’s innocence, noting that the governor was “traumatized” by the complaints filed against him.
Last April 12, the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office dismissed both the rape and attempted rape complaints filed against Yap due to “non-existence of probable cause.” Yap’s camp received a copy of the decision on April 24.
A 17-year-old girl accused the official of raping her in November 2016 when he was still a vice governor. Yap also allegedly tried to rape her for the second time in November last year.
Yap allegedly raped her inside a red sports utility vehicle and threatened her afterwards.
On Feb. 19, 2018, the group Crusade Against Violence accompanied the minor in filing rape and attempted rape charges against Yap.
“We were confident that the complaints filed against the governor would be dismissed because these were not meant for conviction, but political harassment,” Cabales said in a press briefing here.
Asked who was behind the complaints filed against the governor, his executive secretary declined to name names.
Cabales said with the dismissal of the complaints, the camp of Yap is planning to file a formal complaint against those behind the rape and attempted rape accusations.
Yap, former councilor in Sogod town, won the vice gubernatorial race in 2016. He became governor in September 2017 when the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Governor Damian Mercado.
The dismissal of Mercado stemmed from a case filed against him for the provincial government’s purchase of PHP2.3-million worth of three second-hand vehicles, including his previously-owned car. (PNA)
