NEW VENUE, JUDGE ANNOUNCED IN ALLEGED RAPE CASE

UNCLAS MANILA 001519 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, L/EAP, EAP/PD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MARR KCRM CASC RP SUBJECT: NEW VENUE, JUDGE ANNOUNCED IN ALLEGED RAPE CASE REF: A. MANILA 1366 ¶B. MANILA 1219 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (U) On March 28, the Philippine Supreme Court transferred the case of four Marines accused of raping a Filipina from Olongapo City to Makati City in metro Manila. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had requested the change of venue after the original judge, Renato Dilag, recused himself due to a potential conflict of interest (ref A). In moving for a change of venue, the DOJ noted that only two other trial judges were eligible to take the case in Olongapo; of these, one had a potential conflict of interest in the case, similar to that of Dilag, while the other is scheduled to retire in December and might not be able to see the case to its conclusion. ¶2. (U) On April 3, the case was assigned by lottery to Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon, who is on leave and not expected to return to the bench until April 17. According to local press reports, Pozon is currently handling almost 700 cases, but has never tried a rape case. ¶3. (SBU) King Rodrigo, lead counsel on the team defending the Marines, told poloff on April 4 that he did not know Pozon either personally or by reputation. He speculated that the perhaps the biggest impact of the change of venue would be greater ease in staging public demonstrations than in the more distant Olongapo City. Rodrigo also speculated that the DOJ would seek to avoid public controversy by simply not ruling on the petition filed by three of the Marines to reverse the prosecutor's finding of probable cause. Rodrigo confirmed that the DOJ is not required formally to rule on the petition; if it does not, the case moves forward. In late March, local press reported that the DOJ might rule in favor of the three Marines or else lessen the charge against them, but Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez publicly denied this on March 24. Kenney