Judge vows to issue arrest warrant vs GIs
By Tonette Orejas, Volt Contreras, Inquirer
THE JUDGE handling the rape case against four American soldiers said he would not be stopped from issuing arrest warrants by debates on who gets custody of the soldiers or even a Senate inquiry.
"If there is a need to issue arrest warrants, I will issue [them]. I can't be hamstrung," Judge Renato Dilag told the Inquirer in a phone interview from Olongapo City Tuesday.
Dilag, who presides over the regional Trial Court Branch 73 in Olongapo City, said the detention area should be agreed upon by both the Philippine and US governments according to a provision of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
While he took a hard-line stance on the authority and functions of his court over the case, Dilag said he could not stop the Philippine government from proceeding with the negotiations.
"In fact, they will negotiate," he said, referring to the reiteration of the Nov. 16 request by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to the US Embassy to hand over the servicemen.
Dilag said he was not going to wait for the results of the negotiations in issuing the warrants.
The four soldiers have been in the custody of the US Embassy in Manila since Nov. 3 or two days after they allegedly raped a 22-year-old woman at the Subic Bay Freeport.
The DFA Tuesday denied reports that Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo would use his trip to the US to lobby for the Philippines' pending request for custody of the four American Marines.
The department said Romulo was bound for Washington later this week to "give testimony" before an international arbitration body that is hearing the case of the controversial Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The DFA sought to clarify newspaper reports that Romulo would meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concerning Manila's Nov. 16 custody request, to which the US Embassy in Manila has yet to respond.
Romulo is appearing before the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes regarding the NAIA case, though not in his capacity as DFA chief but as then executive secretary of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said DFA spokesperson Gilberto Asuque.
THE JUDGE handling the rape case against four American soldiers said he would not be stopped from issuing arrest warrants by debates on who gets custody of the soldiers or even a Senate inquiry.
"If there is a need to issue arrest warrants, I will issue [them]. I can't be hamstrung," Judge Renato Dilag told the Inquirer in a phone interview from Olongapo City Tuesday.
Dilag, who presides over the regional Trial Court Branch 73 in Olongapo City, said the detention area should be agreed upon by both the Philippine and US governments according to a provision of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
While he took a hard-line stance on the authority and functions of his court over the case, Dilag said he could not stop the Philippine government from proceeding with the negotiations.
"In fact, they will negotiate," he said, referring to the reiteration of the Nov. 16 request by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to the US Embassy to hand over the servicemen.
Dilag said he was not going to wait for the results of the negotiations in issuing the warrants.
The four soldiers have been in the custody of the US Embassy in Manila since Nov. 3 or two days after they allegedly raped a 22-year-old woman at the Subic Bay Freeport.
The DFA Tuesday denied reports that Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo would use his trip to the US to lobby for the Philippines' pending request for custody of the four American Marines.
The department said Romulo was bound for Washington later this week to "give testimony" before an international arbitration body that is hearing the case of the controversial Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The DFA sought to clarify newspaper reports that Romulo would meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concerning Manila's Nov. 16 custody request, to which the US Embassy in Manila has yet to respond.
Romulo is appearing before the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes regarding the NAIA case, though not in his capacity as DFA chief but as then executive secretary of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said DFA spokesperson Gilberto Asuque.
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