Driver in Subic rape case now a suspect

The driver of the vehicle used in the alleged rape of a 22-year-old Filipina by six US military servicemen in Subic is now considered a suspect in the case, Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni declared yesterday.

Jalandoni said Timoteo Soriano had made a "mockery" of the preliminary investigation by giving conflicting statements before investigators and the media and failing to appear at the hearing last Wednesday.

Jalandoni said Soriano could eventually be charged as an accomplice or "principal by indispensable cooperation."

"From the very start, from the very beginning, he has been misleading us," Jalandoni said. "He first filed an affidavit but after filing the affidavit he allowed himself to be interviewed by the media... but he has not submitted any recanted testimony."

Jalandoni pointed out Soriano has continuously ignored the court and instead opted to speak before the media.

He said Soriano’s actions could destroy the evidence of the prosecution as well as damage the testimony he submitted.

Jalandoni said Soriano did not even stop the van while the alleged rape was being committed.

Soriano made no move to stop the assault and did not report the incident to authorities, Jalandoni said.

It was later that Soriano told everything he knew when authorities traced the van to him through the trip ticket left behind by the six American soldiers who hired the vehicle.

Soriano, who has reportedly gone into hiding, was first considered a key witness but in later television and radio interviews he claimed he had been coerced by an investigator to sign a statement saying the woman was gang-raped by the Marines.

Jalandoni on Wednesday gave the six accused Marines until Nov. 29 to answer the rape complaint, a case seen as the litmus test of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) treaty with the United States.

Prosecutors are investigating the allegations that the six soldiers, who had participated in the two-week joint military exercises, gang-raped the 22-year-old woman in a van driven by Soriano on Nov. 1 at Subic Free Port. — AP, Ric Sapnu