GMA NEWS: 'Nicole' may have been pressured to leave RP

**ghosthunter** · March 17th, 2009 06:23 PM

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/153053/N...ve-RP---solons

[SIZE="5"]'Nicole' may have been pressured to leave RP - solons[/SIZE]
JOHANNA CAMILLE SISANTE, GMANews.TV
03/17/2009 | 03:44 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino rape victim "Nicole" may have been pressured by the United States government into virtually giving up the fight against convicted rapist Lance Corporal Daniel Smith - and possibly with the help of the Arroyo administration.

House committee on human rights chairman Lorenzo Tañada III made the statement Tuesday after lawyer Evalyn Ursua announced that "Nicole" terminated the lawyer's services on Monday and is now in the US because "there is no justice in the Philippines."

"I believe the US with the help of this administration pressured Nicole to terminate Atty. Ursua in exchange for a better life in the US," Tañada said in a text message to GMANews.TV.

"I guess the [Foreign Affairs] Sec. [Alberto] Romulo did not understand the SC decision. It ordered him to negotiate the transfer of Smith to Philippine custody and not Nicole to American custody," he added in jest, referring to the Supreme Court ruling last February 11 saying that Smith - who is detained in the US Embassy because of his guilty conviction by a Makati regional trial court branch - should be moved to a local jail.

Smith's appeal is pending before the Court of Appeals.

Tañada said the CA should not be influenced by the latest development in the issue, and should "not be pressured" into acquitting the US serviceman.

"The CA should decide the case based on the facts and the evidence presented," the lawmaker said.

Similarly, Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo told GMANews.TV in a text message that "pressure from whatever source is prime suspect for this turn of events."

For his part, House justice committee chair Matias Defensor Jr. said it is the US which is the cause of injustice and not the Philippines, where he said "everything" is working for the rape victim.

"USA is the cause of injustice, a world power which makes Nicole a part of statistics," Defensor said in a text message to GMANews.TV.

"We should have more faith in our justice system," he added.

But Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said "Nicole" can't be blamed for choosing to leave the country, saying the rape victim is not being supported by the Arroyo administration.

"Di natin masisi si Nicole kung nasa US na siya dahil di sinusuportahan ng pamahalaan. Siya na ang biktima ang kailangan pang magtrabaho para makulong ang rapist [We can't blame here if she is now in the US because is not being supported by the government. She's the victim here but she's the one striving to put the rapist in jail]," she told GMANews.TV in a text message. - GMANews.TV

**tidus1203** · March 17th, 2009 06:28 PM

Can we all just move on. Di pa sila natuto eh. Power >>>> Justice. EH sila Erap nga Billion ang ninakaw pero ganda ng kulungan, may aircon na may TV pa. Eh mga snatcher P500 nabubulok sa maliit na kulungan...

**alwayz_yummy** · March 17th, 2009 06:49 PM

ganyan lang yan.. hay...

**kenzie** · March 17th, 2009 07:13 PM

shocked as hell :smshocked: seriously it was pretty much a done deal soon as they had custody of smith at the embassy ... saw this comin' form a mile away ... :sad:

**shadow** · March 17th, 2009 07:17 PM

pressure? or was it part of the settlement? she would be given an immigrant visa to the US.

how ironic american ang nag rape sa kanya then sa AMerica siya pupunta?

me think it's a payment for her silence na from the US gov't.

**Monseratto** · March 17th, 2009 08:38 PM

As much as we complain that our country's dignity has been mopped all over the floor again, my take is this "Nicole" is nothing but a SLUT. She sold out her so-called principles for financial gain. Linoko tayong lahat! With all the broohaha concerning VFA and Daniel Smith's "incarceration" at the embassy these past few weeks, did we hear anything from the "victim"? Even her lawyer knew little about her real intentions. Nobody knew that the leftist group's Poster Girl was already pulling a fast one on them. Magaling sila mag-rally, pero yung pag bantay kay Nicole...?

**Monseratto** · March 17th, 2009 10:16 PM

All that mess for P100K...And she submitted another affidavit, changing parts of original testimony. What a SLUT!!!

'Nicole' receives P100,000 indemnification from Smith

MANILA, Philippines — "Nicole" has received a P100,000 amount from her convicted rapist, US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel J. Smith, court records released to media on Tuesday showed.

Nicole acknowledged receipt of the amount in a “Receipt and Release" document she executed on March 12, 2009, in Makati City.

She also executed a “sworn statement" apparently altering her testimony on the rape case, and a “notice of termination" of the services of lawyer Evalyn G. Ursua as her counsel in the case.

In the document, she stated that she has “released, remised and forever discharged" Smith and his heirs “from any and all claims, demands or causes of action arising from the indemnity and compensatory damages" awarded to her by the Regional Trial Court of Makati’s Branch 139 in Criminal Case No.06-651 entitled “People of the Philippines vs. L/CPLDaniel J. Smith, et. Al."
In the "Receipt and Release" document, Nicole stated that the payment of the amount was strictly voluntary on the part of Smith “and shall not in any way be construed as admission of liability, of whatever nature," on the part of Smith notwithstanding his appeal before the Court of Appeals.

“This instrument may be pleaded as an absolute and final bar to any proceedings against Daniel J. Smith or any person released herein insofar as the same may relate to the civil aspect of Criminal Case No. 06-651," said the document.

She further stated that in connection with the release and discharge of the civil liability of Smith, she was “clarify[ing] certain aspects" of her testimony on the rape case.

Copies of the sworn statement, however, were not immediately available.

Smith’s counsel, the Sycip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan law firm, subsequently submitted to the Court of Appeals all three documents signed by Nicole for the court’s reference and to form part of the records of the case. GMANews.TV

And all her supporters were left virtually clueless...

**chua_riwap** · March 17th, 2009 10:26 PM

^^ Pocket money nya, pa-US, P100k.....

Tsaka galit siya sa US, bakit dun siya tumakbo?

**ab_initio** · March 17th, 2009 11:01 PM

^^supreme sacrifice. sometimes you need to modify your personal idea of justice for the benefit of the majority. Smith's continued incarceration would somehow affect our republic's relations with the US-to which the former is beholden to. i just wish that the sacrifice she just decided to take would be tempered with the promised convenient life.

i wish her well. sana di siya nagkamali...sana di siya dumating sa panahon sumbatan niya sarili niya. sana...

**Monseratto** · March 17th, 2009 11:02 PM

‘Nicole’ recants

MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino woman who accused an American Marine of raping her late in 2005 and testified about her ordeal in court has recanted.

The sworn statement issued by "Nicole" on March 12 comes more than two years after the Makati Regional Trial Court convicted Lance Corporal Daniel Smith of raping her.

Nicole said she expected her motives to be questioned but maintained she was bothered by her conscience

“I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident. However…I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November of 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened,” Nicole said in her affidavit.

“My conscience continues to bother me realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having *** or that we simply just got carried away,” she said.

“I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice is served,” she added.

I told the court that Daniel Smith kissed my lips and neck and held my breast inside the van. Recalling my testimony, I ask myself how I could have remembered this if witnesses told the court that I passed out and looked unconscious,” Nicole said.

“How could I have resisted his advances given this condition? Daniel Smith and I were alone on the third row of the van which had limited space and I do not recall anyone inside the van who held my hand or any part of my body,” she added.

Nicole said all she could remember was the “very loud music and shouting inside the van.”

“With the events at the Neptune Club in mind, I keep on asking myself, if Daniel Smith wanted to rape me why would he carry me out of the Neptune Club using the main entrance in full view of the security guard and the other customers?”

“Why would Daniel Smith and his companions bring me to the seawall of Alaba pier and casually leave this area that was well-lighted and with many people roaming around? If they believed that I was raped, would they have not dumped me instead in a dimly lit area…to avoid detection?”

Nicole said with the amount of alcohol she had consumed that night and only a slice of pizza to eat, she may have lost her inhibitions and enjoyed Smith’s company.

“I had no opportunity to deny in court that I kissed Daniel Smith but, with the amount of alcoholic mixed drinks I took, my low tolerance level for alcohol and with a slice of pizza all night, it dawned upon me that I may have possibly lost my inhibitions, became so intimate with Daniel Smith and did more that just [dance and talk] with him like everyone else on the dance floor,” Nicole said.

“Looking back, I would not have agreed to talk with Daniel Smith and dance with him no less that three times if I did not enjoy his company or was at least attracted to him since I met him for the very first time on the dance floor of Neptune Club,” she added.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...Nicole-recants