ON HOMICIDE CHARGES FOR DEATHS OF 2 BOYS : Cebu court to summon 18 US Navy men

Eighteen US Navy SEAL commandos will be summoned by a local prosecutor investigating the death of two Filipino boys after a joint military exercise by Philippine and American troops in Toledo City, Cebu last August, a Department of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.

The 18 will be asked to submit depositions and to attend a "clarificatory hearing" of the charges filed against them and several Filipino troops, said Elmer Cato, spokesman of the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission (VFACOM), a government panel monitoring Philippine-US military exercises.

He said the commission expects to receive the summons from the Toledo City prosecutor which it would then convey to the US Embassy in Manila.

The Filipino and American troops had taken part in a live fire exercise dubbed "Flash Piston 00-7" at the Atlas Mining’s firing range compound in Toledo City last Aug. 19.

After the exercise, a group of children picking up firewood from the Atlas firing range recovered an unexploded grenade and tinkered with it, causing it to explode.

Two of the children were killed and one was injured. Families of the victims then filed charges of homicide against the Filipino and American soldiers who took part in the joint exercise.

Cato said the names of the US Navy personnel who took part in the joint exercise were released to government prosecutors on orders of Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. and Defense Secretary Orlando Mer-cado, co-chairmen of the commission.

The list of the names, in turn, was turned over to investigating prosecutor Gabriel Trocio Jr. by a VFACOM team composed of Cato, Josel Ignacio and Raul Dado during a visit to Toledo City last Tuesday.

Cato said government prosecutors will serve the summons through the VFACOM so the 18 US Navy personnel could submit their counter-affidavits.

The commission decided to release the list after it noted discrepancies in the names enumerated in two earlier summons that prosecutors wanted it to serve.

The names in the earlier summons did not tally with the list of US Navy participants to the joint exercise, which the VFACOM has in its possession.

"Apparently, the names were taken from the entries in the Atlas Mining logbook. The commission decided to provide the names to allow government prosecutors to make the necessary amendments on the summons," Cato said.

The VFACOM did not say when the Americans would be called to the hearings.

Cato, meanwhile, belied reports that US authorities submitted fictitious names as part of an alleged cover-up.

"In fairness to the US Embassy, at no point can it be said that its officials attempted to cover things up," he said.

The Philippine government earlier provided burial or hospitalization assistance to the victims or their families.

Left-wing groups have seized the issue to oppose further US-Philippine defense relations.