CABANATUAN CITY – A father and his son, who were former mayor and vice mayor, respectively, of Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija may be re-united in Angeles City anytime soon.
The son, former Vice Mayor Romeo Borja Jr., was arrested by police operatives in Metro Manila, according to Senior Supt. Crizaldo Nieves, Nueva Ecija police provincial director.
The young Borja, Nieves said, was arrested at the vicinity of Pavilion Hotel at the United Nations Avenue in Manila before midnight Wednesday by Pantabangan police chief Senior Insp. Ranny Casilla and operatives of the Manila police district and the Regional Intelligence Unit of the National Capital Region police.
They were armed with an arrest warrant issued by the regional trial court in Angles City. The young Borja, along with his father Borja Sr., it was learned, was charged of rape, human trafficking and child abuse by a former beauty pageant contestant.
The contestant who is also from Pantabangan, then a teener, represented her town for the Nueva Ecija Miss Teen Tourism Pageant in 2011. She was alleged to have been raped by the two from May 2011 to November 2012 in different dates and various places.
The elder Borja was arrested in Umingan, Pangasinan last Feb. 8 and pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared for his arraignment at the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 in Angeles City Wednesday last week.
The alleged offended contestant fi led the charges against the Borjas fi rst before the Department of Justice.
The charges were for violations of the provisions of Republic Act No. 10364 or the Expanded Anti- Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012, and RA 8353 or the Anti-Rape Law in relation to RA 7610, the Anti-Child Abuse Law. The victim said her offenders threatened to hurt her and her family if she reported the rape, but promised to reward her with money and gifts if she would cooperate and stay silent.
Judge Bernardita Erum of the Angeles City RTC scheduled forMarch 12 the hearing of the elder Borja’s motion to detain him instead in a hospital. The former mayor, who is detained at the prison of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Angeles City, is complaining of many ailments.
Nieves said the young Borja was brought to the RIU of the NCR police for documentation and processing before being turned over to the court.
