Maggie de la Riva

Maggie Dela Riva was born to Pilar Torrente (Spanish mestiza) and Juan de la Riva (German Swiss).[1]

In 1958, Riva completed her elementary and high school at Miriam College (then known as Maryknoll College) and finished secretarial training in 1960 at Saint Theresa's College. In 1963, she was selected as one of the top five finalists for the beauty pageant ‘’Miss Caltex of 1963’’. In that same year, Riva also represented Filipino gowns for the ‘’Fashion Guild of the Philippines’’ under the designer “Millie’s Gowns”. In 1964, she was hired as a brand promoter for “Respect the Centavo”, a savings advertisement. Before she became an actress she was a ballet dancer.[1]

As a movie actress, she was paid ₱8,000 per picture. At ABS-CBN, she performed in radio broadcasts and television shows (₱800 per month in permanent shows, ₱300 per month in live promotional shows, and ₱100–200 per appearance as guest in other shows). She was the sole breadwinner of the family after the death of her father, Juan. Her mother took care of the family.[2]

She first appeared with Joseph Estrada in Istambay. It was Estrada that gave her a break in becoming a star. Her most memorable role was in Ang Langit Ay Para Sa Lahat, which she considers her best work. She was also a singer and was always a guest in the leading night clubs in Manila. She had her own TV show titled Maggie on Channel 3. She was also a guest artist in Tanghalan sa Darigold on Channel 11. She was also a recurring guest in Tindahan sa Nayon in VG Television Production on Channel 11.[1]

Maggie de la Riva was a rising young ABS-CBN television star in 1967, when she was abducted, raped and tortured at the Swanky Hotel in Pasay City, Philippines. Riva was going home from the ABS-CBN Studio on Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, driving her Bantam car, with her chambermaid Helen Calderon, when the four men driving a Pontiac 2-door convertible car, waylaid her by physical force.

The four men in the Pontiac all came from influential families, were the following.

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on 26 June 1967, the principal four assailants, along with accomplices Wong Lay Pueng, Silverio Guanzon Y Romero and Jessie Guion Y Envoltario, having conspired together, forcibly abducted Riva, and brought her to the Swanky Hotel in Pasay City. The four assailants, by means of force and intimidation, and with the use of a deadly weapon, raped her. After the gang finished, 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 studios.

At home, her mother, her brother-in-law, Ben Suba, and several Philippine Constabulary officers, local policemen and media reporters, were present. Riva told her mother about her ordeal. On 29 June 1967, Riva with her lawyer, filed a complaint with the Quezon City Police Department.[2]

Jaime Gomez José was arrested in Makati City by undercover police officers disguised as ice cream vendors and carpenters in the subdivision where he lived in. During his interrogation, he gave details of the commission of the crime and named Rogelio Cañal, Pineda, and Aquino as his companions. Hearing of his arrest Cañal and Pineda fled with Aquino to Batangas. A manhunt operation was executed, wherein Cañal and Pineda were tracked down in the municipality of Taal; the two were apprehended by police in a resthouse. Aquino surrendered himself to Aurelia Leviste, the wife of the governor of Batangas after three days of hiding.

During the investigation, Pineda maintained the account that they had raped and assaulted Riva as retribution for hitting their car. In addition, he claims to have bribed Riva for ₱1,000 for a striptease, claiming that she willingly complied. The court found the story contemptuous and immediately rendered a guilty verdict with a grand total penalty of ₱40,000 pesos equally shared among all four assailants.

On 2 October 1967, the trial Court found the accused; Jaime José, Rogelio Sevilla, RCE/RME, Eduardo Aquino, and Basilio Pineda, Jr. guilty of the crime of forcible abduction with rape under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, and sentenced each of them to death in the electric chair. They appealed the judgement, but lost.

In a per curiam judgment in G.R. No. L-28232 on 6 February 1971, the Supreme Court of the Philippines modified the RTC decision, to declare the following:[2]

"... appellants Engr. Jaime G. Jose, Rogelio Sevilla, Basilio Pineda, Jr., and Engr. 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 ₱10,000 in each of the four crimes, or a total of ₱40,000; and each shall pay one-fourth (1/4) of the costs."

The conviction was obtained by Philippine Judge Lourdes San Diego of the Regional Trial Court. Three assailants were executed by electric chair on 17 May 1972, and by direct order of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, while the actual proceedings were broadcast on national radio.[3] Sevilla died in prison from drug overdose in 1971, one year before the others were executed.[4]

On the day of their execution, the condemned ate breakfast of fried chicken with bread and coffee and had their heads shaved at 10:00. Their last meal consisted of a lunch of rice, kare-kare, chicken tinola, lobsters, crispy pata, lechon, fried lapu-lapu, and ice cream. The condemned were stated to have been uncontrollably weeping during a radio interview.

On the time of their execution, Jaime Jose was the first to enter the death chamber. As he was strapped on to the chair, he was in a state of shock after he was sedated. He spent his final minutes weeping as his face was covered with a leather mask and his bare feet rested on a wet block of quarry stone. Among the witnesses was his father, Jose. His mother, Dolores, was at Malacanang Palace to make an appeal but was accordingly declined due to the sensational public anger about the incident. Jose was executed when three prison guards activated switches to the electric chair, of which only one was the live switch. After the initial shock, Jose was given another application of current when the prison doctor examined him.

Basilio Pineda, the second to be executed, was forcibly dragged to the death chamber due to a slight commotion. Aquino came last. Of the executed, only Edgardo Aquino appeared to be repentant and showed remorse for his actions. A prison chaplain, head of the prison guards, and doctor were stated to have heard his last words "Avoid bad companions and obey your parents".

The criminal proceedings and execution announcements (per head) were broadcast on public radio format DZRH, causing sensationalism and public hysteria. Some celebrated the deaths of the condemned. Riva’s ordeal pioneered the subject of rape in the Philippines.[5][6]

The reputed incident was dramatized into a film in 1994, entitled The Maggie de la Riva Story (God... Why Me?). The film starred actress Dawn Zulueta as the titular character. Her niece, singer Ana Rivera, played her sister Medy dela Riva - Suba, while the late Miguel Rodriguez played Jaime Jose.

On 6 March 2017, Riva maintained on Philippine national television that the death penalty should still be a part of the judicial conviction of rape and assault cases.

As of 2020, the hotel where the incident occurred still stands, and is named the "Galaxy Lodge".

• Maggie de la Riva at IMDb