RUSSELE ANN A.

KECHAWEN
LAW RELATED STUDIES

JUNE 30, 1967: THE MAGGIE DE LA RIVA RAPE CASE

Magdalena “Maggie” De La Riva was born in 1942 and graduated high school at
Maryknoll College (now Miriam College) in 1958. She obtained a secretarial degree in
1960 at Saint Theresa’s College. She became a finalist at the 1962 Miss Caltex beauty
contest. Maggie first appeared as a background extra in the 1963 TV show, “The Big
Show” where she was serenaded by Ruben Tagalog. She later became the lead actress
in the stage play “Cat on a Tin Roof in 1964 and also had a radio program at DZRC Manila
called “Pakikipagtipan Kay Maggie Dela Riva”. In 1964, she became Miss Lucky Centavo.
Maggie Dela Riva was then doing very well in her career as a movie actress. She
was being paid P8,000 Philippine pesos per movie, P800 per month on permanent radio
and television performances, P300 per month on live promotional shows and P100 to
P200 per guest appearance on other shows. During the 1960’s, these amounts were
considered quite hefty and so Miss Dele Riva was earning quite well.
Eduardo Aquino is the son of a lawyer-accountant from Calaca, Batangas and was
a second year journalism student. He resided at 172 Mayon Street in Quezon City. Rogelio
Canal is the son of a retired school principal, a native of Bacolod City and resided at
Palanan Street Santa Mesa, Manila. Jaime Jose is the son of physician from Guagua,
Pampanga. He was a combo player and resided at 21 Kalatagan, Makati, Rizal. Basilio
Pineda is a son of a former Pasay City police chief. Basilio has two children and resided
at Makati, Rizal.
According to the statement given by Jaime to the police, Boy Pineda, Eddie Aquino
and Rogelio Canal went to his house in Makati to borrow his red Pontiac convertible car
at around 11am on June 25, 1967. Jaime did not want to lend his car without him being
in the group and so he decided to tag along.
The group went to Ulog Cocktail lounge located along A. Mabini Street in Ermita
where they had several rounds of drinks until 3:30am the following day. While they were
drinking, Pineda shared to the group tht he was in love with the movie actress, Maggie
De La Riva. According to Jose, Pineda knew that Miss De La Riva has a video taping
session that morning at ABS Studio.
From Ulog, the Group went to ABS studio located at Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City
where Pineda and Rogelio tried to talk to Miss De La Riva. Not knowing the group of men,
Miss De La Riva ignored them and drove off her car along with her maid Elena Calderon.
The four men decided to follow Miss De La Riva’s car which was heading to her house
located at no.48 12th street in New Manila. The time then was around 4:30 am. Miss De
La Riva was about to reach her house when the car being driven by the four men drove
next to her car and tried to bump it. She stepped on her brakes and swerved to avoid
collision. When Miss De La Riva stopped her car, she was already in front of the gate of
her house. Being annoyed, she shouted, “ano ba?!”
 Pineda jumped out of their car, opened the door of Maggie’s car and pulled her
left arm. Maggie tried to held on to the steering wheel but Pineda was able to pull her
out of her car. The maid went out of the car and grabbed Maggie’s right arm and tried to
pull her off from Pineda. The three other men inside the Pontiac assisted Pineda in getting
Maggie inside the Pontiac and they sped off towards Broadway Street. The maid was left
behind.
Pineda and his group took Maggie to Swanky Hotel in Pasay City and committed
the atrocious crime of rape. The four men drove in front of the free press building not far
from EDSA near channel 5. They wanted to make it appear that Maggie just came from
the studio. They also decided to flag down a taxi from less known company called UBL
Taxicab so that they could load Maggie in it. The driver of the cab that the men flagged
down was Miguel F. Campos. When Maggie finally got inside the cab, she broke down
and kept asking the driver if there is a car following them. The driver told her that there
was none. At 6:30am that day, the cab reach Maggie’s residence and several PC, police
officers and reporters were there.
On June 29, 1967, Miss De La Riva, along with her lawyer, Regina O. Benitez and
members of her family, went to Quezon City Police headquarters and filed a complaint.
At around 2pm that day, Jose was spotted walking along Buendia Avenue while
reading a Daily Mirror newspaper that had the headline about the rape of Miss De La
Riva. Jose was nabbed by detectives Pablo Pascual and Ricardo Aniceto who were
disguised as ice cream vendors. Jose tried to escape by running away but another
detective named Reynaldo Roldan, who was armed with a Thompson submachinegun,
blocked Jose’s escape.
While Maggie was at the police headquarters, she heard about Jaime Jose’s arrest.
That evening, Maggie returned to the police headquarters. When Jose saw Maggie, he
stood up and said, “Maggie, Maggie, please…..hindi ako kasama. Magsabi ka
nang totoo” ((I am not one of them. Tell the truth). Maggie just stonily stared at Jose,
sat down and cried. After a while, Maggie stood up and tried to scratch Jose’s face but
failed. She then said, “You, you were one of the boys that pulled my legs and
raped me!” Jose’s face went pale. He turned to the wall and cried.
After learning that Jose had been arrested, Aquino, Pineda and Canal became
frantic and met together somewhere in Pasay City. They drove Jose’s Mercedez Benz to
San Miguel Bulacan to lose any law enforcement that where tracking them down. From
Bulacan, the three men drove back to Manila, passing through Pasay City and then drove
to Batangas. They check-in at the Samson Ponti rest house in Lipa City using fictitious
name. When the men had their supper at a restaurant in Lipa City, they were recognized
by a waitress who had read about the De La Riva case in the newspaper. The waitress
notified the local police. The following day, the three men transferred to another house
owned by a Manila City official located in Katipunan Street in Lipa City. A team of law
enforcement officers lead by Detective Restitutu Vinas joined up with members of thye
Lipa Police department and surrounded the house where the fugitives were hiding. The
combined police force slipped into the backyard of the house and entered through the
kitchen door. They arrested Canal and Pineda in the living room.
 Aquino was able to escape by driving their Mercedez Benz to barrio Santa Rita in
Taal. Law Enforcement tried to track down Aquino in Taal but was not able to locate him.
Aquino later surrendered to Mrs. Aurelia the wife of the governor of Batangas.
The four men were sent to Muntinlupa National Penitentiary while their appeals
were being heard. While in prison, they met an American missionary named Olga
Robertson. She resided outside the Muntinlupa jail and devoted most of her time in prison
ministry. Olga visited the three condemned men and request that they memorized the
bible verse 14:6 in which Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one
comes to the Father except through Me”. Three months later, she visited the men
again but she discovered that they were no longer interested in spiritual things. But Olga
was determined to save the souls of the men. She returned the day before their scheduled
execution. Aquino quickly recited John 14:6. Jaime Jose was faint with grief and fear. On
execution day, Olga brought other inmates who sang hymns of praise to encourage the
three condemned men. Olga believes that the three men went from the executioners
chair into the arms of their Savior. Aquino triumphantly said, “Lord Jesus, I give you
my life and no one can take it from me”.
In December 28, 1970, Rogelio Canal, died from overdose of drugs while still in
prison. On February 6, 1971, the Supreme Court found the remaining three men guilty
and sentenced to death by electric chair. Each of them were also ordered to pay P10,000
plus each has to pay ¼ of the cost.