SUBIC RAPE TRIAL SPARKS WAR AMONG FORENSIC EXPERTS
MANILA, JULY 13, 2006 (STAR) By Michael Punongbayan - A number of Filipino forensic medicine practitioners have questioned the claim of the prosecution’s expert witness in the Subic rape trial that she is one of only two formally trained forensic pathologists in the Philippines.Ernesto Gimenez, Philippine Association of Forensic Medicine (PAFM) president, said Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun is a self-proclaimed expert who believes that she is above other forensic experts, including those working for the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police.
"Theories from books do not make you an expert," Gimenez said. "My members are prodding me, marami nagagalit sa kanya (Many of them are angry at her)."
Gimenez said it is unfair for Fortun to underestimate her colleagues in the medical profession.
"That lady is claiming that it is a requirement to be trained abroad, there are so many people who have gone abroad to undergo training," he said.
Gimenez, a consultant at the University of Sto. Tomas Hospital and a special lecturer on forensic medicine at the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Fatima University and De La Salle University, said he himself trained abroad with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles Police Department and the New York Police Department.
"It does not mean that I can already claim that I am an expert," he said.
"Legal medicine is a little bit complex. It is not fair to be claiming that there are only two of them (forensic pathologists). I am not casting aspersions here, we just want to clarify," he added.
Gimenez lashed out at Fortun for claiming that the Florence Test which is being used to detect the presence of seminal fluid in a specimen is "obsolete" and "unreliable."
Reliability is reflective on the one who is doing it and the Florence Test has been the routinary initial test, he added.
The Florence Test was used in PNP Crime Laboratory tests which showed that no seminal stains were found in Nicole’s underwear and the condom allegedly used by Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, the principal accused in the rape case involving four US Marines.
Testifying for the prosecution in the Subic rape case Tuesday, Fortun identified herself as one of only two "real" forensic pathologists in the Philippines, along with Ma. Cecilia Lim of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital.
Fortun told the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) hearing the Subic rape trial that the PNP is using a "very, very old test" in investigating the Subic rape case, which was first introduced in 1896 or two years before the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain.
The method is "non-specific," and that it is no longer being mentioned in modern day medical literature because it cannot be relied upon, she added.
On the other hand, Lim, the only other "real" forensic pathologist according to Fortun, said forensics is a specialty training on crime scene investigation which gives her and Fortun "the ability to correlate crime scene findings, autopsy findings, microscopic findings and laboratory findings with medicine."
"We are the only forensic pathologists in the Philippines, you don’t even have to say formally," she told The STAR in an interview.
"Some pathologists claim that they are also trained, but they are not. It’s just rotation. There is a big difference between their (other forensic doctors) training and ours."
Lim said that under the roster of the Philippine Society of Pathologists (PSP), she and Fortun are the only ones recognized in the country as forensic pathologists.
"Those people are different from us and they are not members of my society. You have to show docs that you are trained. Marami na kasi sa Pilipinas ang nagasasabi na ganito ako at ganun, pero pagdating sa documents to prove it, wala (Many of them in the Philippines would say that we are this and that, but when it comes to documents to prove their claim, they have none)."
However, private prosecutor Evalyn Ursua said there is no formal training on forensic pathology being offered in the Philippines. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe
Nicole’s’ injuries consistent with rape, court told The Philippine Star 07/12/2006
The injuries sustained by a 22-year-old Filipina who has accused four US Marines of rape indicated that she might have been forced to have sex, a prosecution witness said yesterday.
Prosecutors contend that Lance Corporal Daniel Smith raped "Nicole," while his three co-accused, Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood and S/Sgt. Chad Carpentier cheered him on.
Forensic pathologist Racquel Fortun, the prosecution’s expert witness, told the Makati City regional trial court yesterday that the injuries of Nicole were consistent with rape.
Smith has said that Nicole had consensual sex with him.
During yesterday’s continuation of the Subic rape trial, Fortun said the contusions and lacerations found in Nicole’s private parts based on medico-legal findings show evidence that a blunt object like a man’s sex organ was forced in.
Taking the witness stand with at least 18 books, journals and other reference materials, Fortun cited medical facts and principles one after the other.
Fortun said Nicole’s wounds as found by Dr. Rolando Ortiz, James L. Gordon Hospital medico-legal officer, are unusual in normal or consensual sex.
She said a woman is likely to sustain injury during sex if she is not relaxed or if she was resisting intercourse.
On the other hand, if a woman is relaxed and enjoying sex, there would be normal lubrication in her sex organ, which will prevent injury, she added.
Quoting medical books, Fortun said human sexual response prepares a woman for non-traumatic sex and that in sexual assault, victims may not recall the specific actions of the other.
Based on Ortiz’s findings, Nicole’s contusions on both sides of her vagina indicate injury because of blunt force by forcible penetration, "most commonly by an erect penis," she added.
The defense objected several times to Fortun’s answers to private prosecutor Evalyn Ursua’s questions whenever she issued an opinion based on someone else’s or referred to the facts of the rape case.
In her testimony, Fortun said the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory’s practice of using the Florence Test in determining or detecting semen as "obsolete" and "unreliable."
The test was conducted on Nicole’s underwear and the condom allegedly used by Smith on the night of the alleged rape.
The findings showed that no semen or seminal fluid was found on the underwear and the condom.
Fortun said the Florence Test was first used in an investigation more than a century ago in 1896, or two years before the declaration of Philippine independence.
"It’s a very, very old test introduced in 1896 and is not used in modern laboratory work," she said. "It is believed to be unreliable."
Fortun told the court that modern day publications do not even mention the Florence Test while showing the court a 1935 4th edition book, "Modern Criminal Investigation."
The book cites the limitations of the test as "non-specific," she added.
Fortun said the Florence Test only shows probability that there is no semen in a particular specimen as none is detected and at the same time does not justify if semen is detected.
She also provided the court with a copy of an article by an Italian doctor in detection of seminal fluids, which she found on the Internet.
It notes that the Florence Test is "non-specific and false negative results are common," she added.
On the other hand, Jose Justiniano, Silkwood’s lawyer, objected to how Fortun has been allegedly impeaching documentary evidence, triggering a legal argument.
In response, Ursua said they are not impeaching the PNP Crime Laboratory report, which they did not even mark as their evidence since it was the defense which did so during a previous hearing.
She said they are only trying to show that the Florence Test is an "antiquated method of science," while accusing the defense of "suppressing the truth about science."
Justiniano countered that "it is unfair for these police officers (of the PNP Crime Laboratory) to be labeled as ignoramuses."
Antonio Rebosa, Duplantis’s lawyer, a forensic doctor who chairs the Department of Legal Medicine of the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, said it is not fair to call the Florence Test unreliable because a lot of cases have been solved based on it. — Michael Punongbayan, AFP
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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