Magdalena T. dela Riva (Maggie dela Riva) (born 1942) in the Philippines, is a Filipino movie actress, who has appeared in about 80 films.
She is most widely known outside the Philippines for an incident in her early career (1967), when she was abducted and raped. She gave evidence against her abductors, which resulted in the conviction of Jaime G. Jose, a popular music band leader and scion of a wealthy Manila family, Basilio Pineda, Jr., and Edgardo P. Aquino, by Regional Trial Court Judge Lourdes San Diego. The three men were all executed in the Manila electric chair on May 17, 1972, and by order of President Marcos, the electrocutions were shown on national television.[1]
Her ordeal is the subject of Rape In The Philippines.[2][3]
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In 1958, Maggie graduated 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 receiving P 8,000.00 per picture. At ABS-CBN, she performed in radio broadcasts and television shows (P 800.00 per month in permanent shows, P 300.00 per month in live promotional shows, and from P100.00 to P200.00 per appearance as guest in other shows). She was the only breadwinner of the family since her father Aquino died, and only her mother took care of the family.[4]
Maggie 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.
Maggie was homeward bound (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, using 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 PC officers, policemen and reporters, were present, and she said: "Mommy, Mommy, I have been raped. All four of them raped me."
On June 29, 1967, dela Riva, with her lawyer, Atty. Regina O. Benitez, filed a complaint with the Quezon City Police Department Headquarters, and submitted to an internal medical examination by Dr. Ernesto Brion, NBI Chief Medico-Legal Officer.[4]
On October 2, 1967, the trial Court found the accused Jaime Jose, Rogelio Ca al, 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. The accused lost their appeals.
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:[4]
"xxx appellants Jaime G. Jose, Basilio Pineda, Jr., and 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 P 10,000.00 in each of the four crimes, or a total of 40,000.00; 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.