MANILA, Philippines – Exactly 3 years and 5 days after Given Grace Cebanico was raped and killed in the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) campus, a new rape incident involving a UPLB student shocked the university community.

According to Dr Enrique Tolentino Jr, the UPLB Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs., the rape of the unidentified college student happened along IPB road, near the spot where the body of Cebanico was found. 

“She was violated last night (October 15). The alleged suspect is a tricycle driver who picked her up outside the campus,” Tolentino said. 

The family of the student requested that her identity be kept secret. 

The UP official added that the victim took a tricycle at Bgy Maahas, outside the UPLB campus. They traversed the IPB road, a poorly-lit portion of the periphery of the state campus, en route to Barangay Paciano Rizal, also referred to as Barangay Mainit. The ride usually takes 10-15 minutes.

According to the police report, the tricycle driver abandoned the victim after the assault. She was later spotted by a campus security guard.

Campus security

Tolentino clarified that tricycle drivers are not allowed on campus to deter similar criminal incidents from happening.

“As far as we are concerned, we have set in place the proper security to assure the safety of our students.  Kaso may bad elements talaga sa labas ng campus and sometimes they succeed,” Tolentino said. (But there are bad elements outside the university and sometimes they succeed.)

The university is coordinating with the local PNP and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Calabarzon to hunt down the alleged suspect in the rape incident.

On October 10, 2011, Given Grace Cebanico went missing. Her body was found three days later in a canal along the same road.

The trial of the suspects – a tricycle driver and a bank security guard – is ongoing. – with reports from Jed Cortes and Meg Atienza/Rappler.com