GERALD SANTOS RAPED BY AN EX-GMA MUSICAL DIRECTOR WHEN HE WAS 15

During the hearing of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, singer-actor Gerald Santos revealed that the was raped by a musical director of GMA Network when he was still a minor and a contestant almost two decades ago.

In his statement, the incident happened in 2005 when he was just only 15-years-old and a contestant of a talent search competition. “I wasn’t just harassed or abused. I was raped. I didn’t have the guts back then. I kept it as a secret for 19 years because of fear of reprisal and shame.”

The singer continued, saying that he only got to make an internal complaint in 2010 and that there was no clear conclusion to his case when he first went to complain about his abuser. He was urged to just "move on" when his accusations were rejected. 

Singer Gerald Santor revealed that he was raped when he was still a minor by GMA’s ex-musical director (Photo courtesy of Senate PRIB)

Even though GMA eventually fired the musical director, according to Santos, he thinks that his accused perpetrator's coworkers inside the network retaliated against him. “That musical director was connected to other executives inside the network, that’s why I got targeted. After I complained and he was terminated, I was also removed from the network.”

In GMA Network’s statement, the ex-musical director involved in Santos case was terminated on the network. "But the content of the formal complaint filed by Gerald in 2010 is different from his accusation of rape that he mentioned in the Senate. This matter has only now come to the knowledge of the GMA leadership.”

"GMA also wants to clarify Gerald's statement that he was removed from the Network. He himself requested an early release from his management contract in 2010, which was granted by GMA. In the same year he also immediately appeared on another TV network. In addition, Gerald also tried to return to GMA after his contract with TV5 in 2013,” it added.

GMA legal department Atty. Angelo Diokno stated, “GMA has had the policy against sexual harassment. We have been strict about it. Again, we have never covered up any incident of sexual harassment. Legal is very active on the matter. We do not encourage any form of cover-up. In fact, if there is someone that is covering up the matter, we also file administrative case against them."

Santos was emotional on the Senate as he was “once in in this situation but back then, you have no voice, no social media. I remember all the pain I felt and I can’t help but get emotional imagining what he went through. But I will hold my head up high for standing up amidst tremendous pressure to just let go of what happened. I hope he gets the justice I was once denied of.”

Senator Jinggoy Estrada asked Santos if he still want to press charges against the ex-musical director, but the singer—actor said that he would’ve done that a long time ago if he only wasn’t concerned about his safety and career.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “while heinous crimes such as rape has ideally a 20-year prescription period, the law might be more lenient with Santos since he was a minor when the alleged crime happened.”

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

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