US marines' plea for deadline extension on affidavits denied

SUBIC RAPE CASE

By Tetch Torres INQ7.net

THE OLONGAPO Prosecutor's Office rejected a petition by six US servicemen allegedly accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina in Subic to extend the deadline for submitting their counter-affidavits.

"We do not find their motion meritorious," Olongapo Prosecutor Raymond Viray told INQ7 in a phone interview.

The motion filed by the six US servicemen seeks to defer the first preliminary hearing on November 23 and extend the deadline of submission of their counter-affidavits.

The 10-day deadline given to the six will expire this Friday.

Viray said the rules did not allow an extension in the submission of counter-affidavits.

Viray said the deadline was actually more than the prescribed 10-day period because the subpoena informing them of the date of the preliminary investigation and the deadline to submit their counter-affidavits had been sent to the US embassy on November 8.

Nonetheless, the suspects can still submit their affidavits on or before November 23, Viray said.

Viray also said that they had the sworn testimonies of six witnesses against the US marines.

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SUBIC RAPE CASE
US embassy studying RP request for custody of 6 US Marines

By Hrvoje Hranjski Associated Press

The Philippine government has formally requested custody of six US Marines accused of rape after recent counterterrorism exercises, the US Embassy said Friday.

The Marines have been in US custody in the Philippines since a 22-year-old Filipino woman filed a rape complaint against them on Nov. 1. A prosecutor has subpoenaed the men to answer the allegations next week, after which they could be charged.

"We did receive the request for custody on Nov. 16," embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said.

He said the US government "shall take this request into full account" but could not tell immediately when a decision would be made.

"As of now, they are in US custody," he said.

Under a Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines, the US will retain custody of its service members accused of wrongdoing unless the Philippine government requests otherwise. Even then, the US can refuse such a request--a provision that some Philippine lawmakers have criticized as infringing on national sovereignty.

During a Senate hearing Thursday, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, head of the oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement, lamented the "slow" response of Philippine foreign affairs officials in asserting the country's jurisdiction over the Marines.

"I'm very sad that we take this attitude. It makes us sound like we were still a mini-colony of the US," she was quoted as saying by the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. "We're always worried that we might incur their displeasure, and this encourages them to be bellicose or to be nonchalant about the provisions of a written treaty."

The alleged assault on the woman at the former US naval base in Subic has stirred emotions in the former American colony. Some left-wing activists and legislators have called for abrogating the treaty, which spells out the privileges and obligations of US troops and allows them to train in the country.

However, both governments have expressed confidence the case won't affect relations or counterterrorism exercises.