‘Van Rape’ Survivors: Violated Twice Over

Screengrab from 24 Oras, June 17, 2016.

JEERS TO ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol and GMA-7’s 24 Oras for interviewing rape survivors in a manner that practically forced them to relive their ordeal.

On June 10, two passengers of an unregistered passenger van were robbed and raped by alleged suspects Wilfredo Lorenzo and Alfie “Buddy” Turado. According to police reports, the two women boarded the van at around 10 in the evening at the corner of EDSA and Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. They were about to alight in Batasan Hills when the perpetrators declared a holdup, and after taking their valuables took turns raping them inside the van. The victims were released on Sauyo Road in Quezon City in the wee hours of the morning.

Authorities apprehended Lorenzo on June 13. Turado was captured soon after but died of gunshot wounds when, according to the police, he tried to grab the service pistol of one of arresting officers.

TV Reports aired on June 15 showed clips of the rape survivors and their relatives wailing and calling on President-elect Rodrigo Duterte for help, an intrusive practice that CMFR has jeered in the past.

On June 16, the women were made to recall their harrowing experience in live interviews over Super Radyo DZBB and DZMM’s TeleRadyo.

Parts of the interview were also used in reports aired on 24 Oras (“Babaeng ginahasa sa colorum na van, ikinuwento ang sinapit,” June 16, 2016) and TV Patrol (“2 babae, ginahasa ng ‘colorum’ driver,” June 16, 2016) aired parts of the radio interview,  with the victims’ accounts transcribed and shown as captions along the visuals showing the CCTV recording of the van letting the women off after the episode. The sound clips from the radio interview included portions of what the two victims related about the robbery, including physical details of the rape. 24 Oras’s report aired the sound of the women breaking down and crying while calling for justice.

It didn’t stop there. The following day, 24 Oras aired a report showing their reporter beside the obviously distressed women as they once again recounted, this time upon questioning by the reporter, what happened and what they felt when they were asked to identify the body of Turado. (“Mga biktima ng panghoholdap ag panggagahasa, desididong ituloy ang kaso laban sa mga suspek,” June 17, 2016).

TV Patrol also used similar clips in their report that aired on the same day, although there was an effort to refrain from focusing too much on the victims’ narrative. The report instead discussed the Commission on Human Rights’ move to investigate the facts surrounding the death of Turado, as well as the surfacing of two previous alleged victims of Lorenzo (“2 biktima ng panggagahasa at pangmomolestya, kinilala ang bangkay ng pangalawang suspek na si Alfie Turado sa morgue,” June 17, 2016).

When reporting cases of rape and other sex crimes, media need to avoid further sensationalization of the accounts, as such panders to prurient interest and makes the survivors relive their ordeal.

Unfortunately, these reports show that despite repeated appeals to the media for a more responsible treatment of already distressed individuals, some journalists and their media organizations still treat survivors without compassion, totally oblivious to the additional harm they inflict on survivors of sexual violence.

CMFR conducted a seminar/workshop on the coverage of crimes against women and minors in December 1993. A guideline on reporting such issues formulated by the participants can be accessed here.