Philippine judge issues warrants for US Marines

MANILA: A Philippine judge issued arrest warrants on Friday for four US Marines charged with raping a Filipino woman, but he said diplomacy should settle a debate over custody of the soldiers now detained at the US Embassy.

The Philippines is Washington's closest security partner in Southeast Asia.

Both sides have said the rape case and custody issue, which have not yet inflamed any serious anti-American sentiment, will do nothing to affect those ties.

Government officials and many legal experts say a Visiting Forces Agreement between the two allies takes precedence in the event of a conflict with Philippine law. Others say the rape case is extraordinary, allowing local law to trump the 1998 treaty.

An official Philippine request for custody last year was now in Washington but no decision had been made, the US embassy has said, stressing its co-operation in the case alongside the treaty's provision for US custody until legal proceedings end.

The judge handling the case issued the arrest warrants for the American soldiers to agents from the National Bureau of Investigation for transfer to the foreign affairs department, which will serve them to the US embassy.

Executive Judge Renato Dilag, of the regional trial court in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila, said he granted that matters of sovereignty and national pride were part of the case.

But he said, given the legal process in light of the treaty, "we can first try to exhaust diplomatic means to get the custody of the four servicemen."

Dilag's statement appeared to be softer than his comments on January 3 that he would "invoke our sovereignty and must take custody over the accused within the Philippine court."

The four soldiers charged with rape in late December were among six members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit initially accused of raping the 22-year-old woman in a van at a former US navy base in Subic Bay on November 1.

The Marines, stationed in Okinawa, Japan, had just ended two weeks of military exercises with Philippine troops in October.

In affidavits, five of them disputed the rape allegations, suggesting that sex with one of their group was consensual. Under Philippine law, accomplices can be accused of rape.

Two of the soldiers were cleared for lack of evidence. The Filipino van driver, once seen as a key witness, was charged by prosecutors as an accomplice.

Dilag did not issue a warrant for the driver on Friday, saying he was "never accused of having committed any offence."

The US embassy allowed a group of Philippine officials to check on the four soldiers on Thursday, saying they were being restricted to quarters and had no official working role.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo is expected to take up the case during a visit to Washington next week, although his trip will focus on counter-terrorism and arbitration by a US court over a soured airport terminal deal with a German firm.

Source: China Daily