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Philippine prosecutors file rape charges against 4 U.S. Marines+(Japan Economic Newswire)MANILA, Dec. 27_(Kyodo) _ Philippine prosecutors on Tuesday formally filed charges against four Okinawa-based U.S. Marines suspected of raping a 22-year-old woman in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila, last month. Prudencio Jalandoni, the city's chief prosecutor, filed the charges against Daniel Smith, Chad Carpenter, Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood. Their ranks were not immediately available. In a nine-page resolution, Jalandoni said Smith raped the Filipina inside a rented van on Nov. 1 at Subic Bay free port while the three others cheered him on. Corey Burris and Albert Lara, two other Marines whom the woman filed rape charges against, were cleared due to a lack of evidence. Jalandoni said a motion for jurisdiction of the four Americans, currently being held at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, will be filed as soon as arrest warrants are issued. The Filipino driver of the van, initially considered to be a witness, was also charged as an accomplice. "We will try to finish this case within six months," Jalandoni said. Olongapo City, 126 kilometers northwest of Manila, is just outside Subic. Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, 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. The Marines -- all members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force -- arrived in Subic on Oct. 22 from Okinawa to take part in joint military exercises with Philippine soldiers. The alleged gang rape set off protests and renewed calls for the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement, which was ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999, allowing U.S. troops to train on Philippine soil. Nationalist groups have documented dozens of cases of rape and sexual abuse of young women and children in areas near Subic, a former U.S. naval base, and Clark military base before they were shut down in 1992, but not one U.S. soldier was ever arrested or tried for the alleged offenses. |