The cry came from the direction of the Marine detachment guarding the NPC installation inside the campus. When the Muslim residents tried to respond to the cry for help and approached the Marine detachment, they were prevented by armed Marines guarding the entrance to the MSU campus. The following day some of the Muslim residents contacted and reported the matter to the MILF-CCCH and the LMT.

Early morning of December 11, four members of the MILF-CCCH and the LMT in Ranao led by Mangotawar Macacuna, head of the Ranao MILF-CCCH, went to the Marine detachment where said incident occurred and tried to investigate the matter. The Marines told them roughly, “Huwag kayong makialam!” (Do not interfere!) and uttered some other words to the effect that the matter was a private affair, which was of no concern to the MILF-CCCH and LMT. Rebuffed by the hostile actuations of the Marines, the MILF-CCCH and LMT members launched an investigation to dig deeper into the report of the Muslim residents.

The first thing that they did was to establish the identity of the rape victim so as to determine if the crime of rape has indeed been committed. This was quite difficult considering the cultural idiosyncrasies of the Maranaw society. Rape is a source of extreme embarrassment for the family of the victim, and what normally happens when rape occurs is that the victim’s family would never admit openly that a female member is a victim of sexual abuse. Usually, the family seeks redress by taking justice into its own hands as maratabat (pride) requires.

Nonetheless, the initial findings of the investigation revealed that on the night of the incident, a Muslim female student of MSU never returned to the dormitory where she was staying. Until now, her whereabouts cannot be accounted for. It was also learned through the one-way radio that a Muslim policeman who did not divulge his identity vowed to take vengeance for the abuse of her daughter by a Marine soldier.

In the afternoon of December 13, Moro youth students of MSU held a rally in front of the MSU administration building which houses the office of the university president to urge MSU officials, specially MSU president Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Ricardo Gen. de Leon, to launch an official investigation since the reported incident happened right at the campus and involves military personnel. The official response, however, frustrated the Moro youth demonstrators because the MSU administration vehemently denied that any rape had been committed even before an official investigation could be launched. A Muslim former provincial official who is a known friend of the MSU president spoke to the demonstrators and echoed this official line. This was the beginning of the official cover-up which involves officials of MSU, the Marines and some elements of the media.

On December 15, the local TV stations of the ABS-CBN in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro came out with a news report featuring the live interview of a female MSU Christian student who claimed that on the night of the incident, she was drunk and bellicose and so she slept with her Marine boyfriend at the military detachment from where Muslim residents heard the cry for help by a Maranaw woman. The student alleged that there was no rape and there was no Muslim woman in that detachment that night. She said that because of her inebriated state she was probably mistaken for the Muslim woman allegedly being abused. Her story, however, had no ring of truth because the loud cries for help as heard by the residents were distinctly in Maranaw even in intonation. This female student is a Visayan and not a Maranaw. In extreme distress, she would have cried out spontaneously in Visayan, not Maranaw.

At any rate, several residents who live in the vicinity of the Marine detachment and who heard the cries for help in Maranaw have come forward to testify and execute affidavits as to what they have heard and observed that night, notably the defensive agitation and hostility that the Marines demonstrated when inquiries were made by the residents. The Ranao MILF-CCCH and LMT are currently pursuing the investigation and gathering more information and testimonies as basis for the filing of protest in the coming joint CCCH meeting with representatives of the Philippine government.

 Source: Luwaran.com

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