Actress Pilapil asks for police protection

MANILA, Philippines—Actress Pilar Pilapil has asked the Philippine National Police for protection in the wake of an attack in which she was stabbed several times and abandoned at the foot of a grassy hill in Antipolo City last April.

“She requested for security and the PNP provided her,” Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., director of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said following a surprise visit by the actress at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Wednesday.

Pagdilao said that although Pilapil had not received any death threat, she sought police escorts for her peace of mind.

“Right now there is no obvious or clear threat that we have discovered but nonetheless she has requested, so we find it prudent to provide her with security,” Pagdilao told reporters.

The police official said Pilapil was serious about pursuing the charges against her attackers. “The fact that the case has been filed and she’s participating in the process just shows her interest in the case,” he said.

Pilapil avoided reporters who had staked out the CIDG office for a chance to interview her.

Pagdilao said the former beauty queen thought the schedule for her appearance at the Antipolo Prosecutor’s Office to swear by her affidavit was Wednesday, but the date turned out to be June 7.

Asked if Pilapil had more information to offer, Pagdilao said she did not. “She only asked for an update about the case. So the case is now filed before the Antipolo Fiscal’s Office and it’s awaiting PI [preliminary investigation],” he said.

Pagdilao said the investigators are still waiting for the issuance of a warrant for the arrest of Rosel Jacosalem Peñas, Pilapil’s companion at the time she was attacked, who remains missing to this day and who has been blamed for the stabbing.

Peñas, 28, has been charged with kidnapping and frustrated murder at the Antipolo Prosecutor’s Office.

Also charged were two unidentified men who allegedly stabbed and left the actress for dead at the foot of a hill in Antipolo City shortly before midnight on April 14.