US marines to be charged of raping Filipina: prosecutor
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-27 13:25

Four of the six US marines who were suspected of raping a Filipina in the Philippines in November will be charged this week, a local TV reported Tuesday.

Olongapo Chief Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni in charge of the case told ABS-CBN news channel that he would file a motion to have custody of the marines after the court issues a warrant of arrest of them.

The four, identified as Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis and Chad Carpentier, were involved in the raping of a 22- year-old Filipina in Subic Free Port on November 1, according to the prosecutor.

In addition, a Filipino driver, who gave the reversed testimony about what he witnessed in the van where the crime allegedly occurred, will also be charged as co-conspirator, he added.

Jalandoni also said that the other two suspects, US marines Albert Lara and Corey Burris, were cleared after they provided evidence to prove that they were not in the van when the crime supposedly happened.

However, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo Monday admitted that the United States has not yet taken any action on the Philippine government's request for custody of the US marines tendered on November 16.

"We continue to wait word from Washington (regarding our request). We follow it up regularly," Romulo said.

A total of up to 4,000 US troops took part in the Philippine-US military exercise in Central Luzon last month, according to official statistics.

This is the first reported rape incident since the Visit Forces Agreement (VFA) was signed in 1998 between two countries and entered into force in 1999 after the Philippine Senate ratified the agreement as a treaty.

Under the VFA 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 government can refuse such a request -- a provision that some Philippine lawmakers have criticized as infringing on national sovereignty.