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Friday, March 24, 2006
Judge inhibits self from Subic rape case
MANILA -- The Olongapo Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge handling the charge of rape against four US servicemen inhibited himself from the case Thursday following questions about his impartiality.
A day before the scheduled arraignment of the four accused US Marines, Judge Renato Dilag said he is voluntarily inhibiting himself from the case, minutes after reportedly receiving a motion from private prosecutors for him to relieve himself.
The motion of the private counsels of the 22-year-old Filipino victim allegedly made mention of a son of Dilag, who was previously under the employ of the Berenguer, Rodrigo and Rabe law firm, which is handling the defense of Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, one of the respondents in the case.
Aside from Carpentier, also charged for the Nov. 1, 2005 rape case were principal accused Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, and Dominic Duplantis. They are all detained at the US Embassy in Manila.
Dilag said although his son is no longer connected with the Berenguer law office since August 2004, he is resigning from the case "to dispel any suspicion or any doubt on my future action regarding this case."
"I don't feel that that is a legal ground for me to inhibit but just the same, I am voluntarily inhibiting myself," he said in a phone patch interview aired over a television station.
Due to Dilag's inhibition from the case, the arraignment scheduled Friday would be deferred to give way to the re-raffling of the case to another trial court to be assigned by the Olongapo executive judge.
Dilag said the motion for his inhibition actually arose from his recent denial of the private prosecutors' petition to defer Friday's arraignments, declare the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) unconstitutional, and issue warrants of arrest against the accused American soldiers.
Other than his dismissal of the motions, he said there was no reason for the complainant's camp to doubt his objectivity in handling the case.
In the first place, Dilag said, the appearance of private prosecutors in filing the motions was without the approval of a public prosecutor as required under Section 5, Rule 10 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure.
"Normally, when a private prosecutor is appearing, it's with the conformity of the government prosecutor. If there was no coordination between private and public prosecutors, this is not in the best interest of the complainant. You are to coordinate with the government prosecutor," Dilag told private counsel Evalyn Ursua.
Dilag also denied that there was any pressure on the part of the government to rule favorably towards the respondents.
"Right now, it's really too hot (to handle). Before I don't feel any pressure coming from anybody. The only pressure I'm getting is to face the media. Aside from that, I didn't receive any pressure from anybody, or from any government officers," he said.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr., who is set to release his resolution on the motions for review filed by the lawyers of the four accused servicemen, said he was surprised by Dilag's decision to remove himself from the case.
"It was a surprise (but) you can't force the judge to hear the case, you can't blame him if he inhibits for 'delicadeza (propriety)'," he said in a separate interview.
Gonzalez said he gave instructions to Olongapo Provincial Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni to file a motion for re-raffling of the case among three judges in Olongapo City.
"Unless the Supreme Court orders the transfer of case to Manila, we won't file a motion to transfer trial here in Manila. Mahabang proseso pa yan (that entails a long process)," he said. (ECV/Sunnex)
(March 24, 2006 issue)
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