VFA case may delay rape trial, DoJ says
By Rey E. Requejo and Michael Caber
Manila Standard
THE Department of Justice yesterday warned that challenging the Visiting Forces Agreement before the Supreme Court would delay the rape trial against four US marines and work against the complainant, a 22-year-old Filipina identified only as “Nicole.”
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez made this assessment after Nicole’s lawyer filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to set aside provisions in the VFA that prevented police from taking custody of the accused and that set a one-year deadline for the completion of the trial.
“Anybody can question the law but I think it might affect the running of the period,” Gonzalez said, referring to the one-year limit the VFA puts on trials involving US servicemen. “They might run out of time.”
Under the VFA, US military personnel accused of local crimes will no longer need to appear in court if the trial period exceeds a year.
Gonzalez added that the regional trial court trying the case would have to hold off ruling on the case if a prejudicial question was pending before the Supreme Court.
In a 71-page petition, Nicole, through her lawyer Evalyn Ursua, asked the Supreme Court to set aside a May 5 ruling by Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 139 denying her petition to declare Article 5 Paragraph 6 of the VFA unconstitutional.
Ursua also asked the tribunal to rule that the one-year prescription period should start from the arraignment and not, as Pozon had ruled, from Dec. 27, 2005, when the case was first raffled to the Olongapo Regional Trial Court Branch 73.
At the trial yesterday, defense lawyers questioned Pacquito Torres, a prosecution witness from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and tried to cast doubt on the competence of his men.
One of the SBMA investigators, Ramon Paje, also took the stand yesterday to describe his interview with Nicole on Nov. 2, 2005.
Paje said Nicole looked weak when he saw her at the Intelligence and Investigation Office. She told him she had been molested and sexually abused.
Nicole said she was carried out of the Neptune Club by the US servicemen forcibly to their rented van, where she was kissed and fondled.
Someone took away her pants and underwear and raped her, Nicole told Paje.
Nicole also complained of body pain and pain in her vagina. At this point, Paje said, he ordered his men to accompany Nicole to the James L. Gordon Medical Hospital in Olongapo City for a medical exam.
Paje said he turned over the evidence to Genevieve Puno, the evidence custodian of the SBMA.
Paje said he also gathered statements from the security personnel at the Neptune Club.
THE Department of Justice yesterday warned that challenging the Visiting Forces Agreement before the Supreme Court would delay the rape trial against four US marines and work against the complainant, a 22-year-old Filipina identified only as “Nicole.”
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez made this assessment after Nicole’s lawyer filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to set aside provisions in the VFA that prevented police from taking custody of the accused and that set a one-year deadline for the completion of the trial.
“Anybody can question the law but I think it might affect the running of the period,” Gonzalez said, referring to the one-year limit the VFA puts on trials involving US servicemen. “They might run out of time.”
Under the VFA, US military personnel accused of local crimes will no longer need to appear in court if the trial period exceeds a year.
Gonzalez added that the regional trial court trying the case would have to hold off ruling on the case if a prejudicial question was pending before the Supreme Court.
In a 71-page petition, Nicole, through her lawyer Evalyn Ursua, asked the Supreme Court to set aside a May 5 ruling by Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 139 denying her petition to declare Article 5 Paragraph 6 of the VFA unconstitutional.
Ursua also asked the tribunal to rule that the one-year prescription period should start from the arraignment and not, as Pozon had ruled, from Dec. 27, 2005, when the case was first raffled to the Olongapo Regional Trial Court Branch 73.
At the trial yesterday, defense lawyers questioned Pacquito Torres, a prosecution witness from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and tried to cast doubt on the competence of his men.
One of the SBMA investigators, Ramon Paje, also took the stand yesterday to describe his interview with Nicole on Nov. 2, 2005.
Paje said Nicole looked weak when he saw her at the Intelligence and Investigation Office. She told him she had been molested and sexually abused.
Nicole said she was carried out of the Neptune Club by the US servicemen forcibly to their rented van, where she was kissed and fondled.
Someone took away her pants and underwear and raped her, Nicole told Paje.
Nicole also complained of body pain and pain in her vagina. At this point, Paje said, he ordered his men to accompany Nicole to the James L. Gordon Medical Hospital in Olongapo City for a medical exam.
Paje said he turned over the evidence to Genevieve Puno, the evidence custodian of the SBMA.
Paje said he also gathered statements from the security personnel at the Neptune Club.
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
7:54 AM
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