DOJ dares ‘Nicole’s’ mom to take lie detector test

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez denied yesterday that government prosecutors have proposed a settlement in the trial of four US Marines accused of raping a Filipina at the Subic freeport last November.

The mother of "Nicole" told reporters in an interview last Friday that Senior State Prosecutor Emilie Fe de los Santos of the Department of Justice (DOJ) had tried to convince them to give up and accept a deal.

Gonzalez said the complainant’s mother should take a lie detector test.

"The mother should undergo a lie detector test. All of them should undergo a lie detector test. Somebody is creating a story based on certain agenda that they have. It is something about funding," Gonzalez told radio station dzMM.

He gave no details, except to say that the complainant’s camp was raising funding for legal expenses. They sought renowned ballet dancer Lisa Macuja-Elizalde to perform at a charity event, according to Gonzalez.

"But something went wrong, an internal matter in the victim’s group," he said without giving further details.

Gonzalez said he has ordered De los Santos to give her side to the media. "I am quite convinced she is telling the truth. It is impossible she would, on her own, take up something like that. All the more reason she should take it up with me," he said.

Nicole’s camp earlier asked that the government prosecutors be replaced. Gonzalez said he would study the request.

Nicole’s mother claimed that de los Santos told her that unless they drop the charges in exchange for a settlement, the case will allegedly be used for a "tradeoff" for the extradition of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante.

Bolante, detained since July on charges of trying to enter the United States without a valid visa, is fighting extradition.

It has been widely reported that Bolante is seeking political asylum in the United States to avoid being sent back to the Philippines where he is wanted by the Senate for questioning into allegations that he used some P2.8 billion in fertilizer funds to reward politicians who helped President Arroyo win the 2004 presidential election.

Extraditing Bolante could prove embarrassing for the Arroyo administration since opposition forces want to question him on the allegations.

Nicole’s mother said she became convinced that the government prosecutors planned to deliberately lose the case citing what she considered a sloppy cross-examination of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, the primary defendant, earlier last week.

The rape case sparked angry calls for the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement, a 1999 accord between Manila and Washington that allows large-scale US military exercises in the Philippines.

It also allows American troops who are charged with crimes to remain in US custody until legal proceedings are completed.

The rape case is seen as a black mark on the US military exercises that have been credited with helping weaken al-Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines.

The US Embassy has refused to turn the Marines over to Philippine authorities, citing a provision under the VFA. However, the US decision infuriated many, including some lawmakers, and set off small but noisy anti-US street protests.

The four Marines belong to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and had finished counterterrorism maneuvers with Philippine troops in Zambales.

They were on shore leave when the alleged rape occurred on Nov. 1 inside a van at the former US Subic Bay naval base in Olongapo City after the woman went with one of the soldiers on a bar-hop.

The soldiers had insisted only one of them, Smith, had sex with her and that the act was consensual.