Judge Renato Dilag of the regional trial court in Olongapo, a city northwest of Manila and near the site of the alleged Nov. 1 rape, said he will study the motions, hold a hearing Friday and handle the matters quickly to avoid delaying the possible issuance of arrest warrants.

Olongapo City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni last week submitted documents to the court alleging that Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith raped the woman in a van at Subic Bay free port, a former U.S. naval base northwest of Manila, while his fellow Marines cheered him on.

Also charged were Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood, Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis, Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier, and Timoteo Soriano, the Filipino driver of their rented van.

The four Marines are now in U.S. Embassy custody in Manila. Soriano's whereabouts weren't immediately clear.

Smith's lawyer, Benjamin Formoso, filed a motion asking Dilag to dismiss the complaint against his client for lack of probable cause, and to delay an arrest warrant until sufficient cause can be found to support the rape charge. Smith claims he only had consensual sex.

John Coluso, a lawyer for Silkwood and Duplantis, said he was filing an urgent motion to suspend proceedings against his clients. Carpentier's lawyer filed a similar motion.

"We don't agree with the finding of probable cause against my two clients," Coluso said. "We have to tell the court that ... we are going to question the case before the Department of Justice so can you suspend proceedings for the moment."

At the time of the alleged rape, the men were on leave after participating in joint exercises with Filipino forces.

The alleged rape has stirred emotions in the former U.S. colony. Some see it as a black mark on U.S. counterterrorism training, which Washington and Manila have credited with helping Philippine troops crush numerous Muslim militants in the country's restive south.

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