Italian envoy pleads innocent of trafficking

Italian diplomat Daniele Bosio, center, whose lawyers said he is suffering from kidney problems, grimaces as he arrives to attend his arraignment at the City Prosecutor’s office at Biñan, Laguna province, on Wednesday, June 18, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Italian diplomat Daniele Bosio pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse and trafficking of three Filipino children.

Accompanied by his legal counsel and his brother, Bosio was arraigned on Wednesday at the sala of Judge Teodoro Solis of the Regional Trial Court Branch 25 in Biñan City, Laguna province.

Also present at the arraignment were members of the nongovernment child rights group Bahay Tuluyan Foundation, the group that tipped off authorities about the alleged abuses being committed by Bosio on the children at Splash Island in Biñan City on April 8.

The foundation said its members saw Bosio “touching and caressing” three boys that were seen with him at the resort. Bosio, the Italian ambassador to Turkmenistan, was on a holiday in the Philippines when he was arrested.

In a phone interview, Solis said the arraignment lasted less than an hour. He said Bosio, who wore a suit during the arraignment, “looked just fine.”

The arraignment pushed through despite a petition, filed by the prosecution in the Supreme Court, to have the case transferred to Manila. Bosio’s camp, on the other hand, has a petition pending in the Department of Justice for a review of the case.