Subic rape case to be used in exchange of settlement of Bolante case?

Unless complainant "Nicole" drops the charges and backs out of the case in exchange for a settlement, the sexual assault case against four United States Marines now being heard by the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) will allegedly be used for a "tradeoff" for the extradition of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante.

As this developed, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said he will review a request made by Nicole and her mother that the prosecutors assigned to their case be replaced.

In an interview with a group of reporters in a Quezon City restaurant early Friday, the mother of 22-year-old "Nicole" said Senior State Prosecutor Emilie Fe de los Santos of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is trying to convince her family to give up and accept a deal.

Bolante, who is being tried by an immigration court for allegedly trying to enter American soil without a valid visa, is seeking political asylum in the US.

Returning Bolante to the Philippines is viewed as unfavorable for the administration, since opposition forces want to get their hands on him because he allegedly has information about how President Arroyo used fertilizer funds to finance cheating in the 2004 elections.

The US Marines, on the other hand, are facing rape charges punishable by a maximum of 40 years imprisonment. If Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier are acquitted or if the case is dropped, the American soldiers get to go home.

They are now housed at the US embassy as the trial enters its third month since the case was transferred from the Olongapo City RTC to the Makati RTC.

"Cut a deal. If you don’t settle, your case may be traded for the case of (Jocelyn) Jocjoc Bolante," the plaintiff’s mother said in Filipino, quoting De los Santos. "Ask for what you want. Write it down."

De los Santos also allegedly offered Nicole’s mother an opportunity for her children to migrate to and live in the US.

Speaking in Filipino, Nicole’s mother said the offer of a settlement was first revealed to one of her sons, who immediately told her about the offer: "They first made the offer to my son. He told me he was advised to agree to a settlement, to just accept a deal."

Nicole’s mother said she confirmed the offer after Nicole finished testifying before the sala of Makati RTC Branch 139 Judge Benjamin Pozon.

According to her, De los Santos said the reason the defense practically did not cross-examine Nicole was because the families of the accused had already been contacted and are ready to settle.

According to Nicole’s mother, Delos Santos allegedly said "paupuin natin si Nicole bago magsimula ang defense para mag-testify siya na ayaw na niya, pagod na siya, at walang magagawa ang lawyer n’yo (Let’s have her sit before the defense begins so she can testify that she is giving up, that she is tired and that her lawyers can do nothing)," just before the prosecution rested its case.

Nicole’s mother said she kept all this to herself and waited to see what would happen because she did not want her daughter or their private counsel Evalyn Ursua to know about the offers of a settlement.

However, after seeing how the government prosecutors handled the cross-examination of the 21-year-old US Marine accused of actually raping her daughter, Nicole’s mother confirmed that the case is seemingly being sold out and said could not take it anymore.

"The defense was in full battle gear. Then the prosecution had no meeting, no briefing for two weeks," she said, adding that she tried to ask De los Santos to have someone else ask more questions of the accused after State Prosecutor Nolibien Quiambao closed. According to her, De los Santos’ reply was: "hindi na pwede, andyan na ’yan eh, si Fiscal Quiambao na (it can’t be done, it’s set already, it’s Fiscal Quiambao)."

Smith took the stand as the defense’s first witness on Monday and told his version of the events that transpired on Nov. 1, 2005, the night of the alleged rape, and the days that followed.

He denied all the charges and maintained that he had consensual sex with Nicole, whom he met inside the Neptune Club on Nov. 1, 2005.

Nicole accused Smith of raping her in the back of a Hyundai Starex van while she was heavily intoxicated before she was dumped at a parking lot near the Alaba Pier with her pants pulled up only thigh-high and backward.

During Quiambao’s cross-examination of Smith, the judge asked Quiambao more than once if she was conducting a cross-examination after she kept repeating what the witness said during the direct examination of defense lawyer Ricardo Diaz.

Crying, Nicole’s mother said she was outraged over how De los Santos is allegedly trying to convince them to drop the case when the prosecutor was supposed to fight for her daughter and the state.

"Why? Was she paid? This is not just our fight, this is the fight of all Filipinos," Nicole’s mother said in Filipino. "This is my daughter’s life."

"I was observing how loyal they were as state prosecutors," she added. "I have been to all the churches, we are having a very, very difficult time. Where is our government? We were given state prosecutors, but where are they? We are the victims. We were victimized and yet they do not help us."

Nicole’s mother said she does not know if the other government lawyers handling the case know what De los Santos is doing. She also said she still believes and trusts in DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño.

‘All is not lost’

"All is not lost, we can still catch up," she said. "We just really need to change the prosecutors. She (De los Santos) just played with us. She played with us so we would lose the case."

She also said her children will not enter into a settlement because they are not well-educated individuals with jobs and are not dreaming of living in the US.

"My children don’t want it, Nicole doesn’t want it. We will keep fighting," she said, crying. Nicole’s mother also apologized to State Prosecutor Hazel Decena-Valdez who, according to her and Nicole, was the only member of the panel of government lawyers who really cared about and worked on the case.

Nicole and her mother went to the DOJ to ask Zuño for a new set of public prosecutors after walking out of the courtroom before the hearing began Thursday.

At a press conference, Gonzalez said the DOJ prosecutors are doing their best, adding that he has not yet received Nicole’s letter, but he assured that "I will evaluate it. If it is reasonable, I will grant (her request). She is asking, in effect, for the inhibition of some or all of the prosecutors because she should understand that, if there are no prosecutors, the case will stop."

He said private prosecutors cannot proceed on their own with the case: "Under the law, all criminal prosecutions should be under the direct control of public prosecutors. I don’t like any party dictating on this department, but we will accommodate any reasonable request."

"This kind of delay will run in favor of the Americans because the origin of the delay was the complainant," he said, adding that Nicole cannot determine the DOJ prosecutors’ competence or lack thereof.

"Who are they to determine the competence or incompetence of the prosecutors? It is a very sweeping indictment against the prosecutors, who are actually doing their best," Gonzalez said, adding that he stands by the prosecutors. "That is a very unfair statement."

Nicole also faced the media in her first press conference Thursday night to express her sentiments over how the state prosecutors are allegedly deliberately losing the case. — With Jose Rodel Clapano