Report: Gang-raped nurse’s condition continues to improve

The volunteer nurse who was gang-raped in Maguindanao province last month is now able to sit up, even as her physical condition has continued to improve, a radio report said. But investigators handling the case still could not get a statement from the victim as she still could not talk, radio dzBB reported early Wednesday. Earlier reports had said the victim was half-paralyzed due to severe head injuries. Authorities are still tracking down the suspects in the gang-rape, amid calls for justice by the Philippine Nurses Association and other sectors of society outraged by the crime. A former militiaman who initially admitted that he was one of the men who took part in the gang-rape had recanted and said he was tortured by his neighbors into "confessing" to a crime he did not commit. The nurse was found unconscious and naked after the she was gang-raped. She has been transferred to a facility in Davao City where her condition has continued to improve. Police and the National Bureau of Investigation are conducting parallel investigations on the case. — LBG, GMANews.TV