TRIAL SET FOR NEGROS COACH IN SEX RAPS
Manila, July 20, 1998 - Mario Pajarillo, the track coach accused of raping a 15-year-old girl runner twice last year, got what he earlier wished for but he still has to brace himself up for the stormy weather ahead of him.
The rape charge slapped upon him had been downgraded to acts of lasciviousness. Trial begins at the municipal trial court of San Jose, Negros Occidental this mid-July before the sala of Judge Inocencio Aurigue in San Jose.
Another case was filed recently by the victim with the prosecutors's office in Pasig City. The San Jose-born victim has moved to Sta Cruz, Occidental Mindoro and is now studying at Sta. Cruz High School.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development Office No. 4 and its provincial office are now extending financial and legal help to the victim.
Pajarillo was accused by the girl of "touching" her twice last year--one early morning in August at the athlete's quarters of her school in San Jose and the other in the evening of October at her living quarters at the Ultra in Pasig.
The accuser is a 15-year-old runner who won a gold medal in 400 meters and two other silrvers during the 1997 Southern Tagalog meet.
Pajarillo insisted he is just a victim of a grand conspircay that was instigated by influential persons n Mindoro. "There was no rape. I know I am innocent and I'll not back down from this fight," he said.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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