Drugged and robbed in Manila

In a story that was retold to me by a young English woman on a trip to the Philippines left me shocked and outraged, I have read about this type of incident happening before but I never really believed it. I thought these stories were more urban myth than reality; this really goes on go with young solo travelers targeted.

She arrived in Manila and headed out to Intramuros, an area just south of Manila central with a wonderful Spanish influence courtesy of their rich colonial history. According to her she was befriended by a couple of women who invited her out to lunch, she duly accepted their kind offer. 

Apparently a male also came to lunch and was introduced as the husband of one of the females. She is where her story becomes somewhat hazy as she was drugged at lunch and loaded into the back of a taxi where she was driven around Manila and her bank account emptied via her credit card.

She recalls being in and out of consciousness where she was being kissed by a male accomplice but doesn't speak of any sexually explicit activities going on. I did ask her if she felt sore or had and injuries, she replied that she did not. 

I did point out that there may have been photographs taken as she only remembers a small part of being kissed. I did unfortunately advise her to go and get some tests done for sexually transmitted diseases as she had established some form of inappropriate activity occurring in her description of events.

Upon being dumped and slowly regaining consciousness she made her way to a police station where she reported the incident when she was still affected by the drugs. The police took a short statement but were anything but enthusiastic about pursuing the matter further. 

She was shown a photograph where she was able to identify the male offender where the police stated that this individual was known to them but they wouldn't be taking the matter further. The police cited the reason as being that she will be out of the country when the trial would be expected to occur; she replied that she would be in attendance when a trial is set. 

All she required was sufficient notice to organise flights and accommodation. The answer was still a resounding NO. One suspects the police are in on the scam taking a share of the profits in exchange for not investigating this crime. 

Keeping in mind that this is the same police force given special permission to execute drug dealers, this is somewhat perplexing that they should not be keen to investigate a known criminal group using drugs as a way to incapacitate vulnerable women.