Prosecutor names driver as respondent in rape case against Marines
The Philippine Star
MANILA (AP) - A prosecutor on Thursday named the driver of a van used in the alleged rape of a Filipino woman by six U.S. Marines as the seventh respondent in the case.
The woman said she was raped by the Marines, who had recently taken part in a counterterrorism exercise in the northern Philippines, inside the van at Subic Bay free port, a former U.S. naval base northwest of Manila.
The driver, who has gone into hiding, was first considered a key witness but in television and radio interviews later he said he was punched twice by an investigator to force him to sign a statement saying the woman was gang-raped by the Marines.
Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni said the driver made a "mockery" of the preliminary investigation by making conflicting statements before investigators and the press and failing to appear at a hearing Wednesday in Olongapo city, which has jurisdiction over crimes in the free port
===
The tangled tale of the Subic ‘rape’ victim gets untangled
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven, The Philippine Star
Let’s face it. Our newspaper got nakuryente by a government source who maliciously, what other word will suffice, planted the false story that the 22-year old Zamboanga girl who’s accusing the US Marines of rape was a "no-show" and that she was wavering, perhaps ready to withdraw her case.
She will definitely not withdraw. This I got yesterday from my own lawyer, Rogelio A. Vinluan of ACCRALAW, who’s the victim’s counsel, aside from Atty. Katrina Legarda (also a former lawyer of ours in the Cory libel case versus the late Louie Beltran and this Publisher). Katrina, who’s been appearing on television and in the newspapers, is representing the aggrieved victim in her capacity as head of the Child Justice League, Inc., at the request of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the government itself, while Rolly Vinluan is counsel representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), not his law firm.
It’s definitely untrue that the victim was a no-show. Wednesday morning (Nov. 23), she went to office of Subic Prosecutor Raymond Viray accompanied by DSWD representatives, ready to sign an Affidavit against the six accused US Marines. For some strange reason, though, she was not accompanied by any of her lawyers.
In any event, Prosecutor Viray allegedly told her that there was no need to swear to another statement or sign any Affidavit, since her statement had already been entered in the earlier police inquiry. Anyway, that’s what this writer was told yesterday.
Is this true? Then why all the B.S. about her being a no-show?
What we hear from other sources is that the Department of Justice "hinted" that she ought to go directly to the office of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez in Manila to file her sworn statement with him – but the girl had been advised that a battery of photographers, TV cameramen and journalists, might be waiting to "ambush" her in the Justice building.
In any event, all will be clarified, hopefully, on Tuesday next week (November 29th) when a hearing will be held in the office of Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni at which the six accused US Marines will also appear to swear to and file their Counter-Affidavits. The US Embassy has pledged to bring the Marines (now in detention under American custody in Manila) to the hearing.
Incidentally, Vinluan is being assisted by a legal team composed of two lady lawyers, last year’s Bar Topnotcher January Sanchez (UP 2004) and Zoraida Andam, a former Binibining Pilipinas, also from UP.
By way of interest, the accused American Marines are being represented, as well, by a group of brilliant lawyers from several law firms, e.g. SyCip Salazar, Rabe, (King) Rodrigo, Formoso & Formoso, etc. It’s a coincidence that the alleged victim’s lawyers are all from UP Law, while those representing the US Marines happen to be from the Ateneo College of Law, i.e. Atenistas. This is surely not a UP-Ateneo fight. It’s not basketball, or sports, but a serious matter of justice.
When all is said and done, why on earth should rumors be circulated that the victim is withdrawing her case, although every step is being taken to shield her identity up to the last possible minute? (Frankly, from our Zamboanga sources, we already know her name, but we’ll wait for her and her counsels to reveal it according to their own timetable).
From those who witnessed how the woman was unceremoniously dumped from the "suspected" van, unconscious, and in humiliating fashion, she and her family appear to have reason to be angry.
What’s disquieting, on the other hand, is why, when the "victim" was brought to the James Gordon Memorial Hospital, and reported to have suffered contusions and other "evidence" of molestation, no photographs were taken of her alleged injuries and other medico-legal evidence gathered. Will the prosecution thereby have to rely on the verbal testimony of the doctors and nurses who attended to the patient who had been rushed to their hospital by concerned Subic individuals and witnesses?
Or is there evidence existing which will be sprung only during the formal inquiry?
Are squid tactics being employed in this case?
There’s too much smoke being blown in everybody’s face in this over-hyped case, too many spurious leaks being fielded, and too much melodrama injected (along with radical Leftist propaganda).
They’ll hate me for making the observation, but I’ve got to do it in all honesty. It’s too pa-cute for several of the victim’s lady lawyers to have appeared at the preliminary investigation of the alleged gang-rape all dressed in black, parang nakaluksa, possibly trying to appear like "The Women in Black". (Great shades those male Men in Black, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith).
Alas, those ladies, otherwise attractive only contrived to make themselves look more like the Witches of Endor.
===
Driver ng Starex suspek na sa Subic rape
Ang Pilipino STAR Ngayon
Olongapo City - Isinama na rin bilang isa sa mga suspek ang driver ng Starex van na si Timoteo Soriano Jr., mula sa pagiging pangunahing saksi sa umano’y panggagahasa ng 6 sundalong Kano sa 22-anyos na Pinay.
Kahapon ay nagpalabas ng "subpoena" ang prosecutors office laban kay Soriano at binigyan ito ng 10 araw ni Olongapo City Chief Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni para magsampa ng kanyang counter-affidavit dahil sa ginawang pagbaligtad nito sa kanyang unang sinumpaang pahayag.
Inutusan din ng prosekusyon si Soriano na dumalo sa susunod na preliminary investigation sa darating na Nobyembre 29.
Sinabi din ni Jalandoni, kailangan lamang linawin ni Soriano ang kanyang naging aksyon bago, habang, at matapos na maisagawa ang naganap na panggagahasa sa biktima sa loob ng Starex van na minamaneho nito noong gabi ng Nobyembre 1.
Ayon pa sa kanya, kung tutuusin ay aabot lamang ng 15 minuto para sila’y sumapit sa Alava Pier mula sa Neptune KTV bar kung saan nanggaling ang mga biktima at suspek subalit pinaikot-ikot pa umano nito ang van sa loob ng Subic kaya inabot ng halos isang oras bago pa sila nakarating sa Alava Pier na likod lamang ng naturang KTV bar. (Jeff Tombado)
===
Subic rape victim seeks DNA samples of suspects
THE private legal counsel of the 22-year-old Filipino woman allegedly raped by six US servicemen are set to file Friday before the Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office a motion to get DNA samples of the accused, even as they debunked claims of two Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who said that the victim had attempted to recant her rape complaint.
Attorney Minerva Ambrosio said the filing of the motion will show the victim's resolve in pursuing the rape charges against the six US Marines.
"We heard that the defense panel has already said they will refuse any overtures of the prosecution to get DNA samples but we believe that scientific evidence, as long as it is properly gathered and collected, is still the better evidence than mere testimonial evidence," she said.
Ambrosio said the DNA samples from the accused will be compared to the objects found at the crime scene such as the used condom and panty of the victim to determine the true identity of the suspects.
She added that the Starex van where the complainant was allegedly raped could no longer be used as evidence since investigators already released it to the owner after a mere cursory inspection instead of impounding it as required under the rules.
In dismissing reports of a recantation, the lady counsel also said they are not at all surprised that such reports will come out, especially since they are facing an opponent "backed by a superpower as the US."
"There is no retraction. We've already expected that (report) and it could be a ploy of the defense but that is not true. What's different now is that we can't get the same kind of support that we got when we faced Jalosjos," she said, referring to the case that convicted former Zamboanga congressman Romeo Jalosjos for raping a 12-year-old girl in Makati City in 1996.
While the prosecution and the defense panels were battling it out in Olongapo City, two DOJ officials in Manila said the victim and a lawyer went to the DOJ office on Tuesday supposedly to seek help in recanting her statements against the accused.
But Ambrosio said that was not what actually happened. While admitting that they indeed went to the DOJ, it was only to get another prosecutor to administer the victim's swearing in to her affidavit of complaint and not to recant.
They were told by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño to get the advice of Justice Secretary Gonzalez but Gonzalez refused to face them. They were instead told to just subscribe to victim's affidavit before a local prosecutor in Olongapo City.
"That's exactly what we did, so on Wednesday, before the hearing, we went to the Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office. But we were told that it's no longer needed as she would be facing the fiscal later on and her affidavit is signed by her lawyer," she said.
Ambrosio said there is no certainty yet if the victim would be appearing on the next hearing on November 29. "There's no need for her to appear, unless there would be some clarificatory questions." (ECV/Sunnex) Sun Star
===
She'll sing another tune?
HECTOR LAWAS
People's Journal
THE 22-year-old Filipina, who claimed that she was gang-raped by six US Marines at the Subic Bay Freeport on November 1, allegedly wanted to recant her testimony against the US servicemen.
A ranking official of the Department of Justice said the alleged victim tried to see Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez last Tuesday morning purportedly to submit a supplemental affidavit recanting her rape complaint.
The official, who requested anonymity, said Gonzalez turned down the request of the complainant, who was accompanied by her lawyer Minerva Ambrosio, because the justice secretary did not want to be accused of being the one who convinced the victim to withdraw her rape charges against the six US Marines.
"The truth is the victim intends to recant the rape charges. That was refused by the justice secretary because it will not reflect well on him." the source said.
The source said the victim intended to say that the last thing she knew before she passed out was that she was only kissed by the accused.
"She wants to delete the element of rape in her original complaint-affidavit. She wanted to swear about her statement on the rape portion. She was with her lawywer, Atty. Ambrosio. That portion on the element of rape, she will strike that out," the source said.
The source said Gonzalez did not allow the victim and her lawyer to enter his office, prompting them to go to Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and State Prosecutor Lilian Alejo to make her recantation.
"They wanted the victim to subscribe a new affidavit deleting the rape element in her old affidavit," another DoJ official said.
The source added that the victim, including her lawyers Ambrosio and Katrina Legarda, did not appear before the proceedings at the Olongapo Prosecutor's office yesterday "because she (victim) does not want to face the media today (Wednesday) anymore."
The source said it is also possible that the victim had realized she could not stand the embarrassment she would suffer once the trial of her case began.
Her recantation would not mean the rape case would automatically be dropped.
"The government can still pursue the case against the six US Marines for the remaining allegations of sexual molestation, but the case will definitely be weak. The victim can be forced to testify against the accused, but it will not change anything because her recantation will definitely weaken the case against the accused" the source said
MANILA (AP) - A prosecutor on Thursday named the driver of a van used in the alleged rape of a Filipino woman by six U.S. Marines as the seventh respondent in the case.
The woman said she was raped by the Marines, who had recently taken part in a counterterrorism exercise in the northern Philippines, inside the van at Subic Bay free port, a former U.S. naval base northwest of Manila.
The driver, who has gone into hiding, was first considered a key witness but in television and radio interviews later he said he was punched twice by an investigator to force him to sign a statement saying the woman was gang-raped by the Marines.
Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni said the driver made a "mockery" of the preliminary investigation by making conflicting statements before investigators and the press and failing to appear at a hearing Wednesday in Olongapo city, which has jurisdiction over crimes in the free port
===
The tangled tale of the Subic ‘rape’ victim gets untangled
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven, The Philippine Star
Let’s face it. Our newspaper got nakuryente by a government source who maliciously, what other word will suffice, planted the false story that the 22-year old Zamboanga girl who’s accusing the US Marines of rape was a "no-show" and that she was wavering, perhaps ready to withdraw her case.
She will definitely not withdraw. This I got yesterday from my own lawyer, Rogelio A. Vinluan of ACCRALAW, who’s the victim’s counsel, aside from Atty. Katrina Legarda (also a former lawyer of ours in the Cory libel case versus the late Louie Beltran and this Publisher). Katrina, who’s been appearing on television and in the newspapers, is representing the aggrieved victim in her capacity as head of the Child Justice League, Inc., at the request of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the government itself, while Rolly Vinluan is counsel representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), not his law firm.
It’s definitely untrue that the victim was a no-show. Wednesday morning (Nov. 23), she went to office of Subic Prosecutor Raymond Viray accompanied by DSWD representatives, ready to sign an Affidavit against the six accused US Marines. For some strange reason, though, she was not accompanied by any of her lawyers.
In any event, Prosecutor Viray allegedly told her that there was no need to swear to another statement or sign any Affidavit, since her statement had already been entered in the earlier police inquiry. Anyway, that’s what this writer was told yesterday.
Is this true? Then why all the B.S. about her being a no-show?
What we hear from other sources is that the Department of Justice "hinted" that she ought to go directly to the office of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez in Manila to file her sworn statement with him – but the girl had been advised that a battery of photographers, TV cameramen and journalists, might be waiting to "ambush" her in the Justice building.
In any event, all will be clarified, hopefully, on Tuesday next week (November 29th) when a hearing will be held in the office of Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni at which the six accused US Marines will also appear to swear to and file their Counter-Affidavits. The US Embassy has pledged to bring the Marines (now in detention under American custody in Manila) to the hearing.
Incidentally, Vinluan is being assisted by a legal team composed of two lady lawyers, last year’s Bar Topnotcher January Sanchez (UP 2004) and Zoraida Andam, a former Binibining Pilipinas, also from UP.
By way of interest, the accused American Marines are being represented, as well, by a group of brilliant lawyers from several law firms, e.g. SyCip Salazar, Rabe, (King) Rodrigo, Formoso & Formoso, etc. It’s a coincidence that the alleged victim’s lawyers are all from UP Law, while those representing the US Marines happen to be from the Ateneo College of Law, i.e. Atenistas. This is surely not a UP-Ateneo fight. It’s not basketball, or sports, but a serious matter of justice.
When all is said and done, why on earth should rumors be circulated that the victim is withdrawing her case, although every step is being taken to shield her identity up to the last possible minute? (Frankly, from our Zamboanga sources, we already know her name, but we’ll wait for her and her counsels to reveal it according to their own timetable).
From those who witnessed how the woman was unceremoniously dumped from the "suspected" van, unconscious, and in humiliating fashion, she and her family appear to have reason to be angry.
What’s disquieting, on the other hand, is why, when the "victim" was brought to the James Gordon Memorial Hospital, and reported to have suffered contusions and other "evidence" of molestation, no photographs were taken of her alleged injuries and other medico-legal evidence gathered. Will the prosecution thereby have to rely on the verbal testimony of the doctors and nurses who attended to the patient who had been rushed to their hospital by concerned Subic individuals and witnesses?
Or is there evidence existing which will be sprung only during the formal inquiry?
Are squid tactics being employed in this case?
There’s too much smoke being blown in everybody’s face in this over-hyped case, too many spurious leaks being fielded, and too much melodrama injected (along with radical Leftist propaganda).
They’ll hate me for making the observation, but I’ve got to do it in all honesty. It’s too pa-cute for several of the victim’s lady lawyers to have appeared at the preliminary investigation of the alleged gang-rape all dressed in black, parang nakaluksa, possibly trying to appear like "The Women in Black". (Great shades those male Men in Black, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith).
Alas, those ladies, otherwise attractive only contrived to make themselves look more like the Witches of Endor.
===
Driver ng Starex suspek na sa Subic rape
Ang Pilipino STAR Ngayon
Olongapo City - Isinama na rin bilang isa sa mga suspek ang driver ng Starex van na si Timoteo Soriano Jr., mula sa pagiging pangunahing saksi sa umano’y panggagahasa ng 6 sundalong Kano sa 22-anyos na Pinay.
Kahapon ay nagpalabas ng "subpoena" ang prosecutors office laban kay Soriano at binigyan ito ng 10 araw ni Olongapo City Chief Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni para magsampa ng kanyang counter-affidavit dahil sa ginawang pagbaligtad nito sa kanyang unang sinumpaang pahayag.
Inutusan din ng prosekusyon si Soriano na dumalo sa susunod na preliminary investigation sa darating na Nobyembre 29.
Sinabi din ni Jalandoni, kailangan lamang linawin ni Soriano ang kanyang naging aksyon bago, habang, at matapos na maisagawa ang naganap na panggagahasa sa biktima sa loob ng Starex van na minamaneho nito noong gabi ng Nobyembre 1.
Ayon pa sa kanya, kung tutuusin ay aabot lamang ng 15 minuto para sila’y sumapit sa Alava Pier mula sa Neptune KTV bar kung saan nanggaling ang mga biktima at suspek subalit pinaikot-ikot pa umano nito ang van sa loob ng Subic kaya inabot ng halos isang oras bago pa sila nakarating sa Alava Pier na likod lamang ng naturang KTV bar. (Jeff Tombado)
===
Subic rape victim seeks DNA samples of suspects
THE private legal counsel of the 22-year-old Filipino woman allegedly raped by six US servicemen are set to file Friday before the Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office a motion to get DNA samples of the accused, even as they debunked claims of two Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who said that the victim had attempted to recant her rape complaint.
Attorney Minerva Ambrosio said the filing of the motion will show the victim's resolve in pursuing the rape charges against the six US Marines.
"We heard that the defense panel has already said they will refuse any overtures of the prosecution to get DNA samples but we believe that scientific evidence, as long as it is properly gathered and collected, is still the better evidence than mere testimonial evidence," she said.
Ambrosio said the DNA samples from the accused will be compared to the objects found at the crime scene such as the used condom and panty of the victim to determine the true identity of the suspects.
She added that the Starex van where the complainant was allegedly raped could no longer be used as evidence since investigators already released it to the owner after a mere cursory inspection instead of impounding it as required under the rules.
In dismissing reports of a recantation, the lady counsel also said they are not at all surprised that such reports will come out, especially since they are facing an opponent "backed by a superpower as the US."
"There is no retraction. We've already expected that (report) and it could be a ploy of the defense but that is not true. What's different now is that we can't get the same kind of support that we got when we faced Jalosjos," she said, referring to the case that convicted former Zamboanga congressman Romeo Jalosjos for raping a 12-year-old girl in Makati City in 1996.
While the prosecution and the defense panels were battling it out in Olongapo City, two DOJ officials in Manila said the victim and a lawyer went to the DOJ office on Tuesday supposedly to seek help in recanting her statements against the accused.
But Ambrosio said that was not what actually happened. While admitting that they indeed went to the DOJ, it was only to get another prosecutor to administer the victim's swearing in to her affidavit of complaint and not to recant.
They were told by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño to get the advice of Justice Secretary Gonzalez but Gonzalez refused to face them. They were instead told to just subscribe to victim's affidavit before a local prosecutor in Olongapo City.
"That's exactly what we did, so on Wednesday, before the hearing, we went to the Olongapo City Prosecutor's Office. But we were told that it's no longer needed as she would be facing the fiscal later on and her affidavit is signed by her lawyer," she said.
Ambrosio said there is no certainty yet if the victim would be appearing on the next hearing on November 29. "There's no need for her to appear, unless there would be some clarificatory questions." (ECV/Sunnex) Sun Star
===
She'll sing another tune?
HECTOR LAWAS
People's Journal
THE 22-year-old Filipina, who claimed that she was gang-raped by six US Marines at the Subic Bay Freeport on November 1, allegedly wanted to recant her testimony against the US servicemen.
A ranking official of the Department of Justice said the alleged victim tried to see Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez last Tuesday morning purportedly to submit a supplemental affidavit recanting her rape complaint.
The official, who requested anonymity, said Gonzalez turned down the request of the complainant, who was accompanied by her lawyer Minerva Ambrosio, because the justice secretary did not want to be accused of being the one who convinced the victim to withdraw her rape charges against the six US Marines.
"The truth is the victim intends to recant the rape charges. That was refused by the justice secretary because it will not reflect well on him." the source said.
The source said the victim intended to say that the last thing she knew before she passed out was that she was only kissed by the accused.
"She wants to delete the element of rape in her original complaint-affidavit. She wanted to swear about her statement on the rape portion. She was with her lawywer, Atty. Ambrosio. That portion on the element of rape, she will strike that out," the source said.
The source said Gonzalez did not allow the victim and her lawyer to enter his office, prompting them to go to Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and State Prosecutor Lilian Alejo to make her recantation.
"They wanted the victim to subscribe a new affidavit deleting the rape element in her old affidavit," another DoJ official said.
The source added that the victim, including her lawyers Ambrosio and Katrina Legarda, did not appear before the proceedings at the Olongapo Prosecutor's office yesterday "because she (victim) does not want to face the media today (Wednesday) anymore."
The source said it is also possible that the victim had realized she could not stand the embarrassment she would suffer once the trial of her case began.
Her recantation would not mean the rape case would automatically be dropped.
"The government can still pursue the case against the six US Marines for the remaining allegations of sexual molestation, but the case will definitely be weak. The victim can be forced to testify against the accused, but it will not change anything because her recantation will definitely weaken the case against the accused" the source said
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