Police submit girl to medical exam

The 14-year-old girl found in the company of a German national at the Hagnaya Wharf in San Remigio town will be subjected to a medical examination to determine if she was molested.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director Senior Superintendent Noel Gillamac said the minor will be brought to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for the checkup.

The minor who hails from Lapu-Lapu City was intercepted by the barangay officials in Hagnaya Tuesday afternoon while in the company of Herbert Major, a German national.

They were in hurry catching for a boat ride to Santa Fe town in Bantayan Island.

A social worker in Hagnaya noticed Major with the minor, prompting the barangay officials to call the police. Hagnaya barangay captain Jose Cabahug asked the police to investigate the German national.

Cabahug said that Harlyn Hagnaya, anti-trafficking focal person, and Catherine Urcales, barangay staff, spotted the German driving a motorcycle with the minor as his passenger.

They immediately asked the coast guard personnel to hold Major while waiting for the police to arrive.

The minor said she befriended the German national through her mother.

Major said he did not know that it is illegal to be with a minor in the Philippines. He said he came to the Philippines to help the victims of super typhoon Yolanda.

He stayed in Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City where he met the family of the minor. Major said he helped the family to plant malunggay.

The German national claimed to have helped the family in sending six of the 11 siblings to school, including the minor who was with him.

He said that on Tuesday he was looking for a place in Bantayan Island where he could plant malunggay. The minor allegedly asked if she could go with him in Bantayan Island.

Thinking that it was alright, Major said he allowed the girl to go with him.

“Ignorance of the law exempts no one,” Gillamac said on Major’s claim that he did not know that it is illegal to be with the minor.

Gillamac commended the barangay officials for their vigilance and planned to give them award on Monday during the flag raising ceremony at the provincial police headquarters.

Gillamac also urged the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office to apply for a search warrant to check on the room of the German.

He directed all of the station chiefs in the province to be vigilant against foreigners pretending to be philanthropists but only wanted to prey on minors.

The German is currently in police custody at San Remigio Police Station pending the filing of child abuse charges against him.