Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Editorial: US serviceman’s conviction
IN THE end, only one of the four United States Marines accused of raping the 23-year-old Filipina that the media only referred to as “Nicole” in Subic last year was convicted.
But considering the perception about the influence of Americans over the Philippine government and the flaws in the country’s criminal justice system, many people heaved a sigh of relief over Judge Benjamin Pozon’s decision.
There are still many issues to be fleshed out with the conviction of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, including the inevitable filing of an appeal and on where Smith will serve his sentence, but the biggest hump has been hurdled.
VFA test
The Subic rape case has tested the viability of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which governs the conduct of US troops in the Philippines, and the decision may have cooled the emotionalism that militants tried to blanket the pact with.
Which means that the VFA may have survived — for now.
But the conviction was precedent-setting, as what “Nicole’s” lawyer Evalyn Ursua correctly recognized, in the matter of Filipinos seeking justice in court from abuses committed by Americans, specifically US servicemen.
Indeed, the outcome of the Subic rape case easily stands out among other VFA-related cases, including the mauling by two US Navy men of taxi driver Marcelo Batestil and the death of two kids in Toledo from an explosive left behind by a US-Philippines joint military exercise.
Same impediments
The two incidents happened in Cebu in 2000.
While the Cebu cases were not as serious as the one that happened in Subic five years later, the same impediments to the successful prosecution of the US servicemen were visible here, like the reported payoffs to silence the victims or their relatives.
Thus, the effort to successfully prosecute the said cases wavered.
Awareness
One can therefore give it to “Nicole” and those supporting her for not succumbing to the pressure and to the other attempts to hinder the pursuit of justice, including the initial reluctance of the Department of Justice to give its all-out support to the accused.
The main credit, however, should go to the rising level of awareness of the people of the often-unequal relationship between the Philippines and the US, and of the need for Filipinos to assert their rights if they want to be treated as equals.
