Maggie dela Riva
Maggie dela Riva (born Magdalena T. dela Riva in 1942) in the Philippines, is a Spanish Filipina movie actress, who has appeared in about 80 films.
She is most widely known outside the Philippines for an incident in her early career, when she was abducted and raped in 1967. She gave evidence against her abductors, which resulted in the convictions of Jaime G. José, a popular music band leader and scion of a wealthy Manila family; Basilio Pineda, Jr.; Edgardo P. Aquino; and Rogelio Canal, by Regional Trial Court Judge Lourdes San Diego. The first three were executed by electric chair on May 17, 1972, and by order of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, the proceedings were broadcast on national television.[1] Canal died in prison in 1970 from drug overdose.[2] Dela Riva's ordeal affected the subject of Rape In The Philippines.[3][4]
Early life, education and career
In 1958 dela Riva completed high school at Maryknoll College (now Miriam College) and finished secretarial training in 1960 at St. Theresa's College. As a movie actress, she was paid ₱8,000 per picture. At ABS-CBN, she performed in radio broadcasts and television shows (₱800 per month in permanent shows, ₱300 per month in live promotional shows, and ₱100–200 per appearance as guest in other shows). She was the sole breadwinner of the family after the death of her father, Aquino. Her mother took care of the family.[5]
Rape
Maggie dela Riva was a rising young ABS-CBN television star in 1967, when she was abducted, raped and tortured by a notorious gang of young men at the Swanky Hotel in Pasay City. At 4:30 a.m. on 26 June 1967, accused Jaime Jose Y Gomez, Basilio Pineda, Jr., Eduardo Aquino Y Payumo, and Rogelio Cañal Y Sevilla, principals, with accomplices Wong Lay Pueng, Silverio Guanzon Y Romero and Jessie Guion Y Envoltario, having conspired together, forcibly abducted Maggie, 25, and brought her to the Swanky Hotel in Pasay City. The four accused, by means of force and intimidation, and with the use of a deadly weapon, raped her. – dela Riva was going home (No. 48, 12th Street, New Manila, Quezon City) from the ABS-CBN Studio on Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, driving her bantam car with her maid Helen Calderon when the 4 accused, driving a Pontiac 2-door convertible car, waylaid her. Inside the 2nd floor room of the Swanky Hotel, dela Riva was made to sit on a bed, with Pineda and Aquino standing in front of her, and Jose and Cañal sitting beside her. Pineda said, "Magburlesque ka para sa amin!" ("Dance nude before us!") Completely naked before the 4 men, who were kneeling in front of her, the ordeal lasted for 10 minutes. Maggie was asked thrice to turn around. Jose entered the room and undressed himself. He pushed her backward and pinned her down on the bed. Twice, when she went into a state of shock, her attackers poured water on her face and slapped her to revive her. After the gang finished the rape, at 6 a.m. they put her in a taxi, in front of the Free Press Building near Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and Channel 5.
At home, her mother, her brother-in-law Ben Suba, and several Philippine Constabulary officers, local policemen and reporters, were present. Dela Riva told her mother: "Mommy, Mommy, I was raped. All four of them raped me!"
On June 29, 1967, dela Riva, with her lawyer, filed a complaint with the Quezon City Police Department. She submitted to an internal medical examination.[5]
Judgment
On October 2, 1967, the trial Court found the accused REE.Jaime Jose, Rogelio Canal, RCE/RME.Eduardo Aquino and Basilio Pineda, Jr. guilty of the crime of forcible abduction with rape under Art. 335 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, and sentenced each of them to the death in the electric chair. They appealed, but lost.
In a Per Curiam judgment in G.R. No. L-28232 on February 6, 1971, the Supreme Court of the Philippines modified the RTC decision, to wit:[5]
"... appellants Engr. Jaime G. Jose, Rogelio Canal, Basilio Pineda, Jr., and Engr. Edgardo P. Aquino are pronounced guilty of the complex crime of forcible abduction with rape, and each and every one of them is likewise convicted of three (3) other crimes of rape. As a consequence thereof, each of them is hereby sentenced to four (4) death penalties; all of them shall, jointly and severally, indemnify the complainant of the sum of ₱10,000 in each of the four crimes, or a total of ₱40,000; and each shall pay one-fourth (1/4) of the costs.)
The incident formed the basis of The Maggie dela Riva Story released in 1994.
References
- ↑ David T. Johnson and ; Franklin E. Zimring, The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia (Oxford University Press, 2009), p111
- ↑ http://adenu1980.blogspot.co.at/2011/02/galant-stand-of-woman-against-crime.html
- ↑ bulatlat.com/news, Rape Victims Viewed as Dirty Women, Gang rape in the Philippines
- ↑ philippinecommentary, What Nicole Doesn't Know
- 1 2 3 lawphil.net, G.R. No. L-28232 February 6, 1971, People vs. Jose et al.