Subic rape case up at DoJ budget hearing

AT THE resumption of budget hearings on Monday, senators will get another crack at questioning Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on the case of the 22-year-old woman who was allegedly raped by six US Marines.

The Senate committee of the whole, chaired by Senate President Franklin Drilon, will tackle the proposed 2006 budget of the Department of Justice (DoJ).

"It is not remote that he might be asked about the controversial rape case involving six American servicemen," Drilon said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he and his colleagues were inclined to further question Gonzalez on the case, especially if the suspects were still in the country.

"We want to find out what's the status of the investigation, which government has custody of the six suspects, and whether the suspects are still in the country or not," he said in an interview.

Gonzalez appeared at last Thursday's hearing of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement at the Senate, where he was asked to explain why the Marines were turned over immediately to the US authorities.

An administration senator, who asked not to be named, however, said he saw no reason to grill Gonzalez on the rape case, saying "I don't find fault in his position."

He said Gonzalez, retired General Jose Calimlim, deputy administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and foreign affairs officials did not deserve the criticisms heaped on them for their apparent slowness to take custody of the suspects.

"None of them were at fault. Because we never had custody of the suspects from the start," he stressed in an interview. "If there's anyone who's at fault, it's the police of Subic.

What did they do?"Gonzalez had been accused by the victim's lead counsel, Katrina Legarda, of coddling the six Americans.

"I don't think that should be raised there. He had been asked on the same issue last Thursday," Senator Rodolfo Biazon, a member of the legislative committee on the VFA, said in an interview.

"We're now talking of the budget. Let the other senators ask the questions."

The senator, who asked not to be named, also said that instead of bickering over why the government failed to take custody of the suspects, the victim's lawyers and justice officials should prepare for the arraignment of the suspects when the case gets to court.

He said it was Legarda's job to prepare the complaint and the victim for the trial.

Bickering over the failure of the authorities to take custody was useless because the presence of the servicemen was "not yet needed" at the preliminary investigation of the case, the lawmaker said.

The trial court would only require their presence during the arraignment, assuming that the prosecutors recommend the filing of charges against them, he said. "We should prepare for that," he added.