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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
April 1, 2026 | 3:04pm
A Grade 6 student holds up a message calling attention to the alleged sexual assault she is experiencing at Tinambac, Camarines Sur.
Redeemer Homeless Mission via Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police sent a specialized team from its women and child protection unit to Tinambac, Camarines Sur on Wednesday, April 1 , after an 11-year-old girl's open letter to the president detailed alleged rape and harassment by a councilor.
PNP chief Police Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the deployment followed a direct order from Marcos. The president had responded to the child's two-page letter and said her missive brought him "close to tears" and left him "very angry."
The girl, a Grade 6 student, walked out of her own graduation ceremony at Caloco Elementary School on March 30 to submit a petition to the vice mayor of Tinambac calling for the councilor's removal. Videos and photos of the child and her letter were posted on Facebook by the Redeemer Homeless Mission, a nonprofit shelter for homeless children of which she is a part. These reached thousands of shares.
In the letter, Delos Santos wrote that the son and aide of the village official allegedly raped and impregnated one of her sisters in November 2022 and February 2023.
"Mr. President, how will we read if we are being raped?" she asked.
The councilor, according to the child's letter, had often threatened families, cut and steal electrical wires to leave them without power, and sever connections to their well to deny them water.
"Many of the families here stay in survival mode because government people make life very difficult," she wrote.
Marcos responded publicly on social media.
"I am sending policemen to you and your sisters to protect you and to find anyone who has hurt any of you," his account wrote in a comment. He also promised to support the girl's education: "I will make sure that you will be able to continue reading and studying as much as you want."
PNP says rape case already in court
The PNP said its Tinambac Municipal Police Station and investigators from the Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Unit went to Barangay Caloco to "verify the claims and coordinate with teh concerned individuals."
"Based on the verification, the concerns raised involve alleged harassment, community safety issues, and a previous rape case," Nartatez' statement read.
"Police records show that the rape case was filed in 2023 and is currently under trial at the Regional Trial Court, with the accused already in detention at Tinangis Penal Farm," the statement read.
Investigators also looked into a separate complaint about missing electrical drop wires, which had been reported at the barangay level but was never resolved because involved parties failed to appear for mediation.
Nartatez said the PNP is now coordinating with the Department of the Interior and Local Government on a thorough investigation.
Sexual violence against children
Delos Santos' letter speaks to a broader problem in the country captured in official data.
A 2015 national baseline study on violence against children found that nearly one in five children (ages 13 to 17) was a victim of child sexual abuse in the Philippines.
Hospital-based child protection units received over 2,800 complaints of violence against children in the first quarter of the year alone, alongside more than 1,000 reported cases of violence against women.
