PHILIPPINES: Four American servicemen accused of raping a Filipino woman appear for the first time in a Manila court for arraignment

Record ID: 194465

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Four American servicemen accused of raping a Filipino woman appear for the first time in a Manila court for arraignment
  • Date: 28th April 2006
  • Summary: ANTI-RAPE PROTESTERS OUTSIDE COURT (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA8X41G04FV9JHAGY0O8NQKU6OI
  • Story Text: Four U.S. Marines accused of raping a 22 year-old Filipino woman appeared in a Manila regional trial court for the first time on Friday (April 28), but declined to enter any plea.
    Rape complaints were read against the four sailors after Judge Benjamin Pozon threw out an earlier recommendation by the justice department to reduce charges against three of the accused to mere accessories.
    Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood, Daniel Smith and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier sat quietly throughout the proceedings.
    On the advice of their lawyers, they never spoke a word when the court asked them to answer the charges and enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty. The prosecutors also asked the rape complainant to skip the court hearing.
    Pozon entered a "not guilty" plea for the sailors, but turned down a petition by the prosecutors to issue a warrant of arrest to force the U.S. embassy in Manila to turn over Marines and placed them in a local jail.
    The four had been under the U.S. embassy's custody since November when they were accused of raping a woman in a van before leaving her on a roadside at a former U.S. navy base after they had taken part in military exercises with Philippine troops.
    When asked about what plea the accused entered, Francisco Rodrigo, legal counsel for US Marine, Daniel Smith, said they did not enter one.
    "But the court entered a plea of not guilty for them," he said.
    "That was denied by the court the motion of the prosecution issue of warrant. That was an old issue back in Olongapo (city court)," he said, referring to attempts by Philippine authorities to gain custody of the Marines.
    The rape case has prompted small protests outside the U.S. embassy in Manila and calls by some politicians for the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement to be amended or scrapped.
    About 50 members of a left-wing women's group staged a noisy rally outside a high-rise building housing the court, carrying placards and shouting "Jail the Yankees".
    "The Philippine government's own position on the issue is the main obstacle in this. When the government did not insist on the custody issue, then the government through the DOJ tried to downgrade the issue, we feel that these are very serious obstacles" said Joms Salvador, chairperson of women's group, Gabriela Youth, referring to the Department of Justice's attempts to reduce charges against three of the Marines.
    Pozon set the next court hearing on May 12 and May 19.
    Analysts see little long-term damage to ties between the United States and the Philippines, a former U.S. colony and Washington's closest security partner in Southeast Asia.
    The rape trial has also been delayed by the withdrawal of the judge handling the case, who said his voluntary move was prompted by a motion from the victim's lawyer.
    To avoid further delays, the Supreme Court moved the trial to a court in Manila from Olongapo City, northwest of the capital.
    The U.S. embassy has ignored an arrest warrant for the four Marines, saying the Visiting Forces Agreement allows the United States to maintain custody of sailors until judicial proceedings have been completed.
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