Philippine prosecutors were set to file rape charges on Tuesday against four US Marines, while clearing two other soldiers accused of assaulting a 22-year-old Filipino woman in early November.

In affidavits, five of the Marines had disputed allegations that the woman was gang-raped in a van at a former US Navy base at Subic Bay, suggesting there was consensual sex.

The sixth soldier, who had also taken part in two-week military exercises with Philippine troops in October, did not submit an affidavit.

The Filipino driver of the van, initially considered to be a witness, was to be charged as an accomplice, according to documents to be submitted to a court in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila.
 
"We are happy the girl is going to get some kind of justice," said Katrina Legarda, a lawyer for the complainant.

In the charge sheet seen by reporters, Olongapo City chief prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni said evidence suggested the two soldiers to be cleared were not in the van at the time of the alleged rape.

After receiving the charge sheet later on Tuesday, the court was expected to select a judge who will hear the case.

US officials said the embassy was likely to issue a statement once the charges were filed formally.
 
The Marines were being held at the US embassy in Manila but Washington has not responded publicly to a request by the Philippine foreign affairs department to transfer custody of the soldiers to local authorities.

The woman who filed the complaint and the six soldiers did not attend three public hearings held since late November.

Beyond small protests by a leftist women's group outside the court in Olongapo City, the case has caused little public outcry or anti-American sentiment in the Philippines, the only former US colony in Asia and a major ally of Washington in the region.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated in the 1990s when Philippine senators ended a treaty allowing US forces to keep naval and air bases that had been used as staging points during the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War.

The bonds were repaired in 1999, when a more friendly Philippine Senate agreed to a Visiting Forces Agreement that permits US troops to join military exercises and train local units that are battling insurgencies.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies December 27, 2005)