DNA tests begin on evidence in Subic rape case

By Joel Francis Guinto. INQ7.net

POLICE forensic investigators have begun running DNA tests on a panty and a used condom taken from the scene of an alleged rape of a Filipina college student by six US servicemen in Subic, a police official said Thursday.

"We will check the evidence for whatever bodily fluids, may it be semen or perspiration," said Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame.

The fluid samples will then be tested in crime laboratory and results will be submitted to government prosecutors who are handling the rape case, Belen said.

"They [prosecutors] can then ask for DNA samples from the victims and the accused for matching," he added.

Belen said test results would be out in two to three weeks.

Reports said the 22-year-old student was raped inside the sprawling Subic Bay free port, a former US naval base some 80 kilometers northwest of Manila.

Charges have been filed against the six US Marines, who recently participated in joint counterterrorism exercises with Filipino troops. They were served summons on Wednesday to appear in court.

The US military pulled out of Subic and Clark Air Base in 1992 after the Philippine Senate voted against renewing the RP-US military basing agreement.

But with the signing of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1999, US forces are allowed to hold joint training exercises with Filipino troops on Philippine soil.

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6 US Marines want out -- Subic exec
Suspects asked for transfer to Okinawa base

By Tonette Orejas
Inquirer News Service

OLONGAPO CITY -- As the mother of the Filipino rape victim yesterday tearfully pleaded for justice for her daughter, a Philippine official said that the six US Marines who had allegedly violated her had asked to be transferred to their Okinawa home base.

In a voice quivering with anger, the 45-year-old mother urged the Inquirer in a telephone interview to send this message to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: "Please help my daughter get justice."

The senior official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) told the Inquirer on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue that the Americans had made "unofficial requests" for the transfer to their 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit of the III Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Zosimo Paredes, who is also executive director of the Presidential Commission on the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, said the VFA does not prevent the accused in the rape case to leave the country.

He said the VFA has "no qualification" as to where exactly an accused can be held "so long as they don't leave US custody."

"There's really nothing there that says 'US custody in the Philippines'," Paredes said in an interview with the Inquirer. "Their only obligation is to make them available during judicial proceedings."

Paredes also conceded that "we cannot compel" the US to keep the accused on Philippine soil so long as it complies with court orders for them to be presented on specific dates.

Captain Burrel Parmer, public information chief of the US Marine contingent that joined the recently concluded military exercises in the Philippines, said he was unaware of the reported request.

"The US Embassy still has custody of them and assured that it would make them available," Parmer said.

"I want justice for her," the mother said in the first family statement on the Nov. 1 incident at the sprawling Subic Bay Freeport -- the largest US naval base outside the continental United States until it was shut down in 1992.

"Binaboy nila ang pagkatao ng anak ko (They destroyed my daughter's reputation)," she said.

She asked the Inquirer to stress that her 22-year-old daughter is a decent woman. "She is not a prostitute. They should not judge her character," she said.

The mother, together with a son, also appeared in an interview with GMA television news, weeping and appealing that there should be no whitewash on the case and that Americans be jailed.

Many people, she said, were trying to extend help to her daughter but she said she was wary of some who might want to use her for their political interests.

"Ayaw kong pagpiyestahan nila ang anak ko (I don't want this issue to turn into a circus)," she said.

"Don't pity my daughter. Our fellow Filipinos should instead be angry at the Americans who abused her. This is not solely my daughter's battle. It must be our people's fight because those soldiers abused a Filipina."

Overnight, she said the incident had changed her family and thrown her other four children into confusion and feelings of shame.

As the mother tried to help her daughter overcome the trauma, she was also helping her other children cope with the situation.

"They are either embarrassed [about] what happened or couldn't accept it. I told them they shouldn't feel shame for their sister because she herself did not like what happened to her. Often, I tell them that what their sister needs now is understanding and support," she said.

The mother said her daughter had a full life ahead of her until she was abused.

The victim's father, a former Navy officer -- not an Army soldier as identified in earlier reports -- and her mother, a government employee, gave her a college education.

The daughter has been receiving counseling from crisis management specialists of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. She had come to Subic to accompany a stepsister to meet her boyfriend. In the course of bar-hopping, she was taken to a van, where she was allegedly raped, according to accounts by freeport officials.

The incident, the mother said, has disrupted their lives and their food business in Zamboanga City but this is not important anymore.

"She is our priority now, nothing else," the mother said.

In Manila, Senator Richard Gordon released a letter from the mother requesting for assistance. He said he also received a phone call from her.

"For my daughter, the ordeal of living with fear, depression and humiliation is indeed very painful and even much more agonizing for a mother like me who sees her young daughter in moments of torment and despair," the mother said in her Nov. 4 letter.

"We are very much aware of the consequences that we have to face like the series of investigations, examinations and scrutiny from all concerned agencies and concerned organizations, particularly the media, and all other vital procedures that we need to undergo," she said.

"Inasmuch as we would want to protect my daughter and our family from further dilemma, we deem it appropriate to seek professional help in order for us to deal with or cope with our situation."

Gordon said the mother made the same request when she called him by phone from Subic last Monday, a day before the Olongapo City prosecutor's office issued the subpoenas on the servicemen for the preliminary investigation on Nov. 23 and 29.

Victim wants to go home

"They asked for help and they need lawyers. Basically they'd like to pursue the case," Gordon, a member of the legislative oversight committee on the VFA said in an interview with the Inquirer.

Gordon tapped Manuel Quijano, a former member of the Accra law office and former deputy administrator of the SBMA, to serve as the family's private lawyer pro bono.

A criminal complaint signed by the victim, who requested that she not be identified, said she was raped on the night of Nov. 1 by the Americans from the aircraft carrier USS Essex. The Americans were on the last night of a furlough after participating in the RP counterterrorism exercises which ended last week.

"This incident does not speak for the VFA, for the American people. It's just them. Let's just prosecute them to the hilt," said Gordon.

Shabby treatment

City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni said the victim had requested to return to Zamboanga City, where she lived. He could not say if her return to Zamboanga was permanent and would only come to Olongapo City for the preliminary investigation on Nov. 23 and 29.

Also yesterday, the Inquirer learned that the victim had complained that a doctor at the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital in Olongapo City had treated her shabbily. The victim narrated to Representative Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales that the doctor had asked the rape victim why she was still at the hospital the morning after the incident.

The victim replied that she was confused and didn't know. "Maybe you had it coming," the doctor reportedly told her.

US Chargé d'Affaires Paul Jones met with Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat. Jones reiterated that the embassy would cooperate in the investigation of the incident.

In Jolo, US soldiers on a humanitarian mission ferried 13,000 pounds of educational materials and 2,000 pounds of medical supplies.

Sulu Governor Benjamin Loong said the Subic incident was an "isolated case." With reports from Volt Contreras, TJ Burgonio, Philip C. Tubeza, Christine O. Avendaño and Jerome Aning; Allan Macatuno, PDI Central Luzon Desk; and, Charlie C. Señase and Julie S. Alipala, PDI Mindanao Bureau

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Human Face : Women's letter to rape victim

By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo, Inquirer News Service


"WE believe in you. We do not have to behold your face or know your name in order to say this."

Thus began the short but moving letter of 28 women's groups and their allies to the 22-year-old victim of rape allegedly committed by five US servicemen last Nov. 1 in Subic.

The letter, expressed profoundly in Filipino, offered solace and solidarity with the woman from Mindanao who met her tragic fate while visiting Subic. Some members of the women's groups that sent the letter are rape survivors themselves.

"We are with you while you weep, because your experience has been the experience of many of us. We are with you as you nurse the pain, because we also feel the pain when your dignity as a woman was trampled upon by US servicemen who had done the same to women in Angeles, Olongapo and other places. We are with you as you seek justice.... We know that your healing will depend on many things, one of which is getting justice.''

Those excerpts are for English speakers who do not understand Filipino. But there is nothing like reading the whole letter in the national language. It stabs deep into the heart. I hope the rape victim, whoever she is, wherever she is, would be able to read this and be convinced, really convinced, that she is not alone. Her "kabaro" [fellow women] are reaching out to her.

"Naniniwala kami sa 'yo, kabaro.

"Hindi namin kailangang makita ang iyong mukha o malaman ang iyong pangalan para masabi namin ito.

"Sa matagal na panahon ng aming pagsama at pagtulong sa mga biktima ng panggagahasa, alam namin kung gaano kahirap ang lumantad bilang biktima. Lalong hindi madali sa iyong kalagayan dahil ang iyong isinusuplong ay anim na sundalong Amerikano. Alam namin na hindi ka magrereklamo kung hindi totoo ang iyong sinasabi.

"Kaya naman sa tapang na iyong ipinakita para simulan ang hakbangin tungo sa hustisya, sinasabi namin na naniniwala kami sa iyo at nandito kami para tumulong sa abot ng aming makakaya.

"Hindi kaiba sa marami sa amin ang matinding pinsala sa kaisipan at pagkatao na bunga ng pang-aabusong ito. Ilan sa amin ay naging biktima rin. Marami sa amin ay araw-araw na humaharap sa mga biktimang gaya mo at tumutulong bilang counselor, therapist, doktor, abogada, tagataguyod, kasama, kaibigan.

"Kasama mo kami sa iyong pag-iyak, dahil ang iyong karanasan ay karanasan ng marami. Kasama mo kami sa matinding sakit na iyong nararamdaman, dahil ramdam din namin ang pagyurak sa iyong dignidad at pagkatao, gaya ng ginawa ng maraming sundalong Amerikano sa maraming babae sa Angeles, Olongapo, at iba pang lugar. Kasama mo kami sa iyong paghangad ng hustisya, dahil ito ang nararapat at ito rin ang inaasam ng marami nating kabaro na naging biktima gaya mo.

"Alam namin na ang iyong paghilom at paggaling ay nakasalalay sa maraming bagay, kasama dito ang pagkuha ng hustisya.

"Sana ay maging matatag ka sa mga susunod na araw. Sa iyong pakikipaglaban para sa iyong dignidad at karapatan, taos-puso kaming nag-aalay ng aming tulong. Nandito kami. Handang samahan ka.''

The women's groups, led by Women's Education, Development, Productivity, Research and Advocacy Organization (Wedpro), said they are willing to walk with the victim. "Nandito kami. Handang samahan ka.'' [We are here. Ready to be with you.]

Aida Santos of Wedpro, however, stressed that "despite the women's outrage over the incident, and being reminded of past incidents, we need to take into consideration what the 22-year-old woman and her family want to do. She is the most important person in this case. We are trying our best to make a personal and hopefully quieter way of reaching out to her. This is a political issue, but most of all, this is a very personal issue.''

Santos cited examples of victims opting to retract or go the way to an out-of-court settlement, leaving outraged sympathizers out in the cold. But rape being a public crime, there is no way the suspects could avoid prosecution if the evidence is strong.

I agree that this is a grave personal and national issue. The initial protests against the perpetrators of the crime and the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement are to be expected. But I also think that women's groups should not do an overkill without first hearing from the victim herself. Pressure from many sides could leave the victim confused and feeling that she is but a fodder in a raging issue.

What does she want for herself? How does she want the case resolved? What form of justice?

Santos pointed out that the media's overemphasis on the fact that the victim was "not a sex worker'' seemed to imply that if she were a prostitute or a loose woman it was okay to abuse her.

"Prostitute or not, drunk or not, no woman deserves to be used like a piece of commodity and thrown away,'' Santos said.

A visiting US national had earlier twitted women at a protest rally and, in front of the media, stated that the victim was probably a prostitute and, therefore, had it coming.

In a separate statement, the same women's groups demanded that the Philippine government pursue all means necessary to immediately prosecute those who committed the crime. "This is not the first time US soldiers showed pure contempt for a Filipino woman and, in effect, Filipino women in general.''

Among the 28 signatories of the letter to the rape victim and the statement were Kalayaan, Likhaan, Women's Legal Bureau, Women Step In, Women's Rage, Women Working Together to Stop Violence Against Women, Nagkakaisang Kababaihan ng Angeles City and International Women's Network Against Militarism.

It has been announced that the next US ambassador to the Philippines is, for the first time, a woman. We are eager to know how she views the case

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De Castro asks DoJ to act swiftly on case


By DAVID CAGAHASTIAN, Manila Bulletin


Vice President Noli de Castro yesterday urged the Department of Justice (DoJ) to act with dispatch on the rape charges filed against six United States servicemen, as he urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to press for custody of the six accused.

De Castro said that the rape case against the six visiting US soldiers would be an opportunity for the Philippines to show the international community of its resolve to exercise sovereignty amid its several security arrangements with the US.

De Castro warned that a failure of the government to convict the six accused US soldiers would bring disgrace to the country in the international community, and would set a precedent that the Filipino people could be easily taken advantage of without the risk of facing criminal punishment.

"This will be a test case in our administering of justice here in our country. If we cannot administer justice against those who would be proven guilty in this atrocity against one of our countrymen, we will only appear laughable and abject before the international community, and we will be prone to being trespassed by just anyone," De Castro said.

De Castro stressed that the justice system in the Philippines should expedite the judicial procedures to beat the one-year period stipulated under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) only during which US military personnel are obliged to face prosecution in the Philippines.

The DoJ served last Tuesday the subpoenas for the six accused US soldiers — Keith Silkwood, Daniel Smith, Albert Lara, Dominic Duplantis, Corey Barris, and Chad Carpenter — effectively starting the one-year period prescribed for the Philippine government to conduct judicial proceedings against US soldiers suspected of offenses in the country.

De Castro also appealed to the US authorities to cooperate and turn over the suspects to Philippine authorities as soon as it is warranted. He said that he is "confident that American authorities will fully cooperate in the potentially capital offense case."

Under the VFA, the Philippine government may request for custody of suspected offenders only in "extraordinary cases," but the granting of such requests is solely under the discretion of the US government.

The DoJ, however, said that the Philippine government may gain custody of the six accused US soldiers when charges have been formally filed in court and warrants of arrest have been issued.

He also said that Philippine authorities should step up its support for the 22-year old rape victim amid speculations of attempts by the US Embassy to reach a settlement with her and reports of a retraction by a key witness in the case.