3 US sailors return to Cebu for trial today

The three American sailors accused of defrauding and beating up a taxi driver will arrive today to face the charges filed against them in a Cebu City court, said a commission overseeing the implementation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM).

The commission said Petty Officers Michael Keyes, John Earl Lowerey and Shannon Towers will arrive this morning from a US military base in Japan.

Sources said the three were supposed to have arrived in Cebu City yesterday but their flight was rescheduled to avoid publicity.

VFACOM spokesman Elmer Cato said Keyes and Lowerey, who were named by taxi driver Marcelo Batestil as the servicemen who assaulted him, would attend the arraignment for a case of physical injury.

Meanwhile, the hearing on the estafa case against the two and Towers was set on April 12.

US Embassy spokesman Tom Skipper refused to divulge where the three American sailors would be staying for security reasons.

Earlier, reports said Lt. Commander Thomas Herold of the US Navy Judge Advocate General's office allowed the three sailors to stay in the Philippines for 13 days so the servicemen could be present when the court hears the two separate cases.

Herold reportedly arranged their stay up to April 12, but would not disclose where the US authorities will be keeping the three.

The Cebu City prosecutor's office has already dropped the malicious mischief charge against the American sailors for lack of evidence.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Clemencio Montesa served yesterday the subpoena on US Embassy officials, who all gave assurances of the three sailors' presence today.

The US sailors claimed that Batestil provoked them into beating him up since he made a scene when they failed to pay the P900-fare the driver was asking for.-- Aurea Calica