Press Release No. 64-03
24 February 2002

“ANGELICA” DOING WELL IN CHILDREN’S HOME -- OPLE

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- The 13-year old rape victim known to Filipinos as “Angelica” is now under the care of a private children’s home in Likas, Kota Kinabalu, where she shares a room with three other girls.

She is under the care of Ajiah Rashid, head of the Princess Anne Children’s Home, who is also called as “housemother” by her wards. The child who was mistakenly deported by Malaysian authorities along with other Filipinos from Sabah was accompanied to the children’s home by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Juliano “Dinky” Soliman on 9 December 2002.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople said he received information that Angelica now goes to a special school. She also continues to receive counseling from a trained psychologist.

“I am glad to hear that she is doing well in her new home environment. The Princess Anne Children’s Home has committed to look after Angelica until she reaches the age of eighteen,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople told reporters here today.

The Angelica case is being investigated by a federal police team led by Assistant commissioner Takbir Ahmad as well as by Sabah police authorities.

Ople took note of an earlier statement by National Unity and Social Development Minister Datuk R. Siti Zaharah Sulaiman that the girl would be placed under the Social Welfare Development’s care until she reaches the age of 18 and that they would do whatever is necessary to look after her social welfare and education.

The Daily Express, a newspaper in Sabah, quoted Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah as saying the girl was initially rebellious and refused to interact with the rest of the occupants at the welfare institution but that “…now she has befriended the housemother and other care providers, and is mingling well with the other children…” he told Daily Express. END