DFA: No apology for rape uproar

No apologies.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Manila will not apologize for protesting the alleged rape of a 13-year-old Malaysian girl — initially believed to be Filipino — by three Malaysian police officers in Sabah.

"A rape is a rape is a rape," Undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr. simply said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople is in Europe on an official mission.

"We don’t see a need for (an apology). The Philippines took up the cudgels for a rape victim, a minor at that," DFA spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said. "Now, are we to be faulted for that?"

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday Manila should apologize for leaping to conclusions. "I think they should, because they jumped to conclusions that we raped their people," Mahathir told reporters.

"You ought to be a little more sensitive and a little more cautious in making statements that can lead to souring of relations between countries," he added.

Foreign affairs and justice officials said since the girl’s mother is a Filipina, it is possible that she may have dual citizenship.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar also urged the Philippines to apologize.

At Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye at first rejected Syed’s demands for an apology, but later declined comment.

"That was discussed in the Cabinet but the decision was not to comment on that," Bunye told reporters.

But diplomatic sources said that Ople and Mahathir, who are close friends, already have an understanding on how to handle this issue.

"The statement by Minister Syed was obviously not directed to the Philippine government but for their local Malaysian audience only," one diplomat pointed out.

The girl claimed she was raped before being wrongly deported from Malaysia to the southern Philippines during an immigration crackdown.

President Arroyo wrote to Mahathir asking him to act on the case, which sparked an uproar last month.

Malaysian police said last week that DNA tests proved the girl was a Malaysian citizen by backing her claim that her father is Malaysian. Her mother was from the Philippines but now lives in the Malaysian state of Sabah, although the couple separated ten years ago, police said.

The girl, who had been neglected, was deported after she was unable to provide documents proving her citizenship, police added.

Mahathir pledged that Malaysian police would not abandon their investigation into the rape allegation, despite the confusion over the girl’s nationality.

Mahathir said it was not unusual the girl was wrongly deported because "she was found among them, she was wandering around without any address."

He said further investigation was necessary to ensure the girl was not lying.

"Even if there is a rape case, let’s find out if the rape was committed, before jumping to conclusions. This girl, I understand, is one of those street children. You don’t know what she’s been up to," he said.

The girl was staying with her grandmother in Sabah when she was taken into custody, he said.

Last month, Malaysia dispatched a three-member probe team to Manila to interview the girl, who has identified three guards as her attackers.

Arrangements were being made to return her to Malaysia. Justice Secretary Hernando Perez last month said he had been informed by a Malaysian lawyer that he would recommend charges be filed against the three guards identified by the girl.

Nearly 300,000 undocumented workers — mostly from neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines — fled Malaysia or were deported before Aug. 1, when harsh new immigration laws took effect, including caning, imprisonment and large fines.

Migrants returning to the Philippines complained of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at Malaysian detention centers, and three young Filipino children reportedly died during the mass expulsions.

Manila lodged a protest for the alleged mistreatment, denied by Malaysia.

Sen. Manuel Villar, meanwhile, said Malaysia should apologize first for its alleged mistreatment of Filipino deportees before Manila apologizes for the rape case.

"If Malaysia could not apologize for its ill treatment of thousands of Filipino deportees while in detention in Sabah, the Philippines finds no reason why it should apologize for the diplomatic protest over the rape," said Villar, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee. — With Efren Danao, Marichu Villanueva, AFP