DFA denies asking judge to defer warrants on GIs
By Tetch Torres, INQ7.net
THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) denied asking Olongapo Regional Trial Court Judge Renato Dilag to defer the issuance of arrest warrants against the four US servicemen accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman.
DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said late Wednesday night that “no representation or petition has ever been made by DFA to Judge Dilag.”
The position of the Philippines seeking custody of the accused Marines “stands,” Asuque said in a text message.
The Philippines has a pending request before the US Embassy seeking custody of Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier.
The four Marines -- charged with raping a vacationing Filipina in the Subic Bay Freeport on Nov. 1 -- are in US Embassy custody in Manila.
Sources from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Olongapo City said the DFA asked the lower court to defer issuance of arrest warrants pending negotiations between Manila and Washington over custody of the soldiers.
But Asuque said: “In fact the fiscal has requested Judge Dilag to immediately turn over custody to the Philippines.” He added that the DFA and DoJ have been awaiting Dilag’s decision.
Dilag was expected to issue warrants of arrest against the four accused on Wednesday.
But he said he would decide within "a few days" whether to issue warrants or dismiss charges against the four US Marines and their Filipino driver Timoteo Soriano Jr., accused of conspiring to commit rape.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors Wednesday submitted to the court written arguments for and against the dismissal or suspension of charges in the case.
Prosecutors are opposing petitions by defense lawyers to dismiss or suspend the charges for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors allege that Smith raped the woman inside a van at the former US naval base about 80 kilometers northwest of Manila as his fellow Marines cheered. Smith claims he only had consensual sex.
The case has drawn widespread media attention in this former US colony, and human rights advocates say it has opened up old wounds caused by past abuses.
It is also being seen as a litmus test for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a treaty that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution of US soldiers taking part in anti-terrorist joint exercises here. The VFA was negotiated after the 1992 closure of all permanent US military bases in the Philippines.
The US embassy in Manila had invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects, but said diplomats would turn the Marines over to authorities if the four were formally charged.
Rape in the Philippines is punishable by life imprisonment or death if there are aggravating circumstances. With The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) denied asking Olongapo Regional Trial Court Judge Renato Dilag to defer the issuance of arrest warrants against the four US servicemen accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman.
DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said late Wednesday night that “no representation or petition has ever been made by DFA to Judge Dilag.”
The position of the Philippines seeking custody of the accused Marines “stands,” Asuque said in a text message.
The Philippines has a pending request before the US Embassy seeking custody of Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier.
The four Marines -- charged with raping a vacationing Filipina in the Subic Bay Freeport on Nov. 1 -- are in US Embassy custody in Manila.
Sources from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Olongapo City said the DFA asked the lower court to defer issuance of arrest warrants pending negotiations between Manila and Washington over custody of the soldiers.
But Asuque said: “In fact the fiscal has requested Judge Dilag to immediately turn over custody to the Philippines.” He added that the DFA and DoJ have been awaiting Dilag’s decision.
Dilag was expected to issue warrants of arrest against the four accused on Wednesday.
But he said he would decide within "a few days" whether to issue warrants or dismiss charges against the four US Marines and their Filipino driver Timoteo Soriano Jr., accused of conspiring to commit rape.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors Wednesday submitted to the court written arguments for and against the dismissal or suspension of charges in the case.
Prosecutors are opposing petitions by defense lawyers to dismiss or suspend the charges for lack of evidence.
Prosecutors allege that Smith raped the woman inside a van at the former US naval base about 80 kilometers northwest of Manila as his fellow Marines cheered. Smith claims he only had consensual sex.
The case has drawn widespread media attention in this former US colony, and human rights advocates say it has opened up old wounds caused by past abuses.
It is also being seen as a litmus test for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a treaty that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution of US soldiers taking part in anti-terrorist joint exercises here. The VFA was negotiated after the 1992 closure of all permanent US military bases in the Philippines.
The US embassy in Manila had invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects, but said diplomats would turn the Marines over to authorities if the four were formally charged.
Rape in the Philippines is punishable by life imprisonment or death if there are aggravating circumstances. With The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
7:49 PM
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