“This fight is for all of us”– Bianca Valerio

FASHION model, sought after events and television and podcast host and newspaper columnist, writer and editor, Anna Liza ‘Bianca’ Valerio, gained an important court victory in her fight to get justice from a sex predator who nearly ruined her life after a chance encounter in an event she hosted in 2021 at Bonifacio Global City.

This, after Hon. Judge Gia Angeli Geraldez-Abarquez of Branch 74, Taguig City Metropolitan Trial Court, issued a warrant of arrest against Gibson Juaner Arca last June 24, 2024, for violation of Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code (acts of lasciviousness). The court decision came 3 years after the attack on her on June 23, 2021.

‘No one warned me about Gibson’

In her narration, Valerio said she was asked to host an event at a 5-star hotel consisting of a family and their close friends and afterwards, she agreed to join the group to an “after event party” held at a bar at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

“They were all well-known and respected personalities that I felt safe in their company,” she recalled. That feeling of security even made her decide to send her driver home.

At the party, Valero said Arca tried his best to befriend her. Unknown to her, however, Arca managed to lace her drinks with drugs that completely disoriented her.

In the few lucid moments after taking the drink, Valerio said she recalled being with Arca at the bar’s comfort room, with Arca shoving “cocaine” into her mouth and attempting to rape her right there and then but failed.

Valerio said she also remembered being brought by Arca to his condominium unit, also at BGC, where he started groping and fondling her body in another attempt to rape her.

After managing to prevent Arca from raping her inside his condominium, Valerio said Arca decided to drop her off at her own condominium unit in Makati City although his attempt to sexually assault her did not stop.

Valerio said she had to “drag” herself to get inside her unit before losing consciousness.

She said she remembered waking up alone, naked, her right breast bleeding, and the door to her unit unlocked.

Did Arca succeeded in raping her? Valerio cannot tell as she already had the vaguest recollection of what happened after she entered her condo unit and passed out.

Valerio said it took her a long time before she started to recover from the shock and trauma of what happened to her; the psychological impact on her was so great that it took her some 9 months, by March 2022, before she found the courage to tell her family of what happened to her.

Unwilling to burden them, Valerio instead first sought the help of her psycho-spiritual counselor right after the incident in order to cast away the dark shadows of that night’s events, a struggle that she continues to wage until now.

In hindsight, her trust to those she was with during the party, including the person who asked to host the event, was misplaced.

Although Arca already has a reputation of abusing women, “no one warned me about him.” Being in the company of those well-known and respectable people made her drop her guard down.

Later, she also learned that Arca is also a “drug supplier” to many celebrities, including those in show business. She realized Arca’s celebrity “customers” would not want to be dragged in any controversy that could eventually implicate them in relation to illegal drugs.

She also bewailed that even the security guards at her condominium did not bother to check on her despite seeing her groggy on her way to her unit and even “falsified” their logbook to show that she was in her unit during the time she was at the after event party with Arca.

Although raised in a Catholic family, Valerio said she is actually “not a religious person” but had a “spiritual awakening” after what she went through and turned to St. Michael the Archangel for protection and support. Incidentally, her brother, who had passed away, was also named ‘Michael’ that made her feel a connection to the angel that conquered Satan.

The road to justice is long, challenging

In early 2022, some 9 months after the incident, Valerio finally arrived on the action that she must do: to come out publicly and reveal what happened to her and seek justice by filing cases against Arca, her personal and family’s shame and career be damned. Thru her social media account, she went public on March 31, 2022, and narrated her experience that unforgettable night off June 23, 2021.

Atty. Star Elamparo, who is a crusader for women’s rights and dignity, also lamented that while there have been improvements, Philippine society continues to exercise bias against sexual assault victims, especially against women.

Afterwards, she said her spirit was lifted as expression of support poured in from all directions. More importantly, Valerio said she also received private messages from other women claiming that, they too, were victims of Arca’s depravity—but never had the courage to speak out and opted to continue to suffer in silence.

“Arca likes to photograph and film his unconscious victims while they are naked. He would then use the materials to blackmail them into silence,” Valerio said.

But going out in public and seeking justice thru the legal process proved challenging, Valerio lamented, underscoring the state of the country’s justice system and the lack of empathy for victims of those tasked to run it.

Adding to Valerio’s emotional struggle and difficulties was the fact that since the incident and after going public, job offers seemed to suddenly dry up.

Valerio noted that when she went to the Women and Children’s Desk of the Philippine National Police, the woman police officer in front of her even remarked, ‘At least buhay ka pa naman.’

She added she received almost the same uncaring treatment when she went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NB). Her impression is that the NBI agents appear to not believe her as she does not seem to “look” like a victim of sexual assault.

Her lawyer, Atty. Star Elamparo, who is a crusader for women’s rights and dignity, also lamented that while there have been improvements, Philippine society continues to exercise bias against sexual assault victims, especially against women. However, Elamparo credited the NBI for their help in preparing the complaints against Arca.

Later, they would learn that Arca was arrested by the NBI back in 2014 on illegal drugs charges but “someone” from the bureau intervened and he was set free.

It would take another year after she went public, on June 9, 2023, before she was able to file criminal charges against Arca at the Department of Justice (DOJ), with the help of Elamparo. They include, Attempted rape, acts of lasciviousness, grave coercion, and illegal possession of illegal drugs docketed as XV-16-INV-23F-00710.

But it would take nearly a year of evaluation and gathering of additional testimonies and evidence before the attending prosecutor, Taguig Assistant Prosecutor Diana Abigail Atal Paño elevated the information to the court, on May 29, 2024, but only for the crime of acts of lasciviousness against Arca.

Acting promptly on the criminal information, Hon. Judge Geraldez-Abarquez issued the warrant of arrest last June 24 and set Arca’s arraignment this coming October.

Sex predator on the loose

In the years after incident, Valerio preoccupied herself in knowing more about Arca and his victims. She believed that dating back to 2014, Arca could have victimized some 40 women, including foreign “models” from Russia, Brazil, and other Asian countries.

Valerio offered a reward of P500,000.00 to anyone who can offer information leading to the arrest of her attacker, Gibson Arca.

“Arca also likes to bring in foreign models and then he would take away their passports thus leaving them vulnerable and totally dependent on him,” Valerio found out.

While her court victory may not be enough to cause Arca sleepless night and while his other victims had declined to come out and follow her example, Valerio said she never feels alone.

“This fight is for all of us,” Valerio said, on behalf of Arca’s other victims.

But where is Gibson ‘Gibby’ Juaner Arca now?

From the stream of information being provided to them, Elamparo said Arca is now “living the life,” in Los Angeles, USA, using a “student visa.”

In the years after assaulting Valerio, Elamparo said they also learned that Arca has been in and out of the country and did not even bother to respond to the summons from the NBI and the court.

Usec. Paul M. Gutierrez, executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) acknowledged that the PTFoMS’ mandate covers Bianca as she falls under the classification of a “media worker” or a “member of the press” given her background as a columnist and editor.

The PTFoMS, under Administrative Order No. 1, series of 2016, is mandated to address “all violations on the right to life, liberty, and security of all members of the media.”

The official bared he has already requested the United States Embassy, thru the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to confirm if the student visa issued to Arca is valid. This, over suspicion that using his money and connection, Arca managed to procure a fake US visa that he used to escape to America.

Separately, the DOJ said it would include Arca in the watchlist of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) so he can be immediately arrested as soon as he enters the country.

Valerio said she is “grateful” not only to the PTFoMS, but to all those giving her the platform to not only hear her side but more importantly, of warning the public, especially women, to be wary of Arca, as well those helping her to put a notorious sex predator behind bars.

Valerio also offered a reward of P500,000 to anyone who can provide the information leading to Arca’s arrest.