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Thursday March 23, 7:12 PMPhilippine judge removes himself from rape case against U.S. marines(Kyodo) _ The Philippine judge set to hear rape charges against U.S. Marines removed himself from the case Thursday to dispel any suspicions about his impartiality.The move came just a day before the scheduled arraignments of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier, Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis and Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood. The servicemen are accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman in the Subic Bay Freeport northwest of Manila on Nov. 1. They were to appear in court to enter pleas Friday but that will be rescheduled, Judge Renato Dilag said. "To dispel any suspicion or doubt on my future action regarding this case, I am voluntarily inhibiting myself," Dilag told ANC television. Lawyers for the victim filed a motion Thursday asking Dilag to step down from the case, saying Dilag's son, who is a lawyer, had worked for a law firm defending one of the servicemen. Dilag said his son quit the law firm in question two years ago. The judge added he felt the request for him to step down was more likely triggered by his own refusal to grant several requests from the victim's lawyers, including the reissue of arrest warrants that were returned to him last month when Washington invoked a provision in the Visiting Forces Agreement and rejected Manila's request for custody of the Marines. They have been in the custody of the U.S. Embassy since the alleged crime. Prosecutors allege Smith raped the woman inside a rented van while the three others cheered him on. Smith reportedly claims he had consensual sex with the woman. Rape is punishable by life imprisonment or death in the Philippines. A U.S. serviceman who commits a crime in the Philippines may be tried by a Philippine court if the offense is punishable in both countries, according to the agreement ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999. The accord said that a case must be wrapped up within a year of the alleged crime, otherwise the soldiers will be allowed to leave the Philippines and the charges will be dismissed. The four Marines, members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, Japan, arrived in Subic, outside Olongapo City, on Oct. 22 to take part in joint military exercises with Philippine forces. The alleged gang rape revived calls for scrapping the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows U.S. troops to train on Philippine soil. The Philippine government voted not to renew a basing agreement with the United States in 1992, and U.S. forces abandoned Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga Province, ending 94 years of U.S. military presence in the Philippines. |
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