DFA chief to ask Rice for RP custody of 4 GIs

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo will formally ask the United States to turn over custody of the four US Marines charged here with rape to the Philippine government during his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington this week, a senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said Romulo mentioned in a meeting yesterday that he will leave for Washington tomorrow.

The US inaction on the Philippines’ request to be given custody of the US soldiers is reportedly one of the issues that will be discussed during Romulo’s meeting with Rice because of the "pressure" on the government to gain custody of the Americans.

The issue of custody, the senior diplomat said, would definitely be taken up during the meeting between Romulo and Rice as the government and Congress believe the country needs to assert Philippine jurisdiction over the four US servicemen because of the extraordinary nature of the case.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), US authorities have the right to take custody of Americans involved in crimes while participating in US-RP military exercises.

The DFA official, however, explained that the Philippine government’s demand to take custody of the accused in this case is "justified" because the charges they are facing are not work-related.

Rape charges have been formally filed against Staff Sergeant Chad Carpenter, Lance Corporal Dominic Duplantis, Lance Corporal Keith Silkwood and Lance Corporal Daniel Smith before the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court by a 22-year-old Filipina.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez clarified yesterday that the delay in the proceedings of the rape case would not be covered by the one-year trial deadline set by the VFA.

In a one-page memorandum to Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni, Gonzalez cited that under Article V of the VFA, the one-year period prescribed for judicial proceedings of the rape case "is to be reckoned from the time of their arraignment and shall not include the period of preliminary investigation."

"The one-year period will not include the time necessary to appeal. Neither shall it include any time during which scheduled trial procedures are delayed because the US authorities, after timely notification by Philippine authorities to arrange the presence of the accused, fail to do so," Gonzalez said. — Pia Lee-Brago, Jose Rodel Clapano