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Friday, July 07, 2006
Velasco: The road to justice
By Diana B. Velasco
Grain Of Salt
OF ALL the recent news events that hogged the headlines, nothing has fascinated me more than the unraveling drama of the Subic Bay rape case.
For those hiding under a rock these past months, it involves one 22-year-old Zamboangueña on vacation and four American servicemen temporarily stationed in Subic from their post in Okinawa as part of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The sordid story is so full of twists as it is told in court that it seems like fiction. Throw in elements of international conspiracy and it has become gripping enough to be movie material.
At first, it seemed hopeless for the victim. Since the accused are under the protection of the self-proclaimed most super power in the world and since the crime happened under the blanket of an international military exercise, I was cynical enough to expect that the U.S. government would bully its way through the case by invoking diplomatic immunity for its officers and simply refusing to hand them over for trial within Philippine shores.
Well, surprise, surprise. While the United States still has custody of its military men, the trial is currently being held within Philippine territory -- something that I thought would never happen but did. The US could have invoked some provisions in the VFA to conduct the trial outside the country, but they did not. And now, we have as near seats to the stage as possible to watch (or in most cases, read about) the developments of the trial. If there were any details to crow about, the nation would be among the first to know.
Another unexpected twist (at least for me) was that the defendants hired Filipino lawyers for the case. I took it for granted that it would be Americans hiring Americans for maximum intimidation. The details of the agreement won't allow them to. And of course, a Pinoy lawyer licensed to practice in the Philippines would know the inner workings of our justice system better than somebody who has to learn its subtleties and nuances from scratch.
Now, we have front row tickets. And the stage has been set to pit the skills of the attorneys on both sides of this drama. With legalese transformed into tricks every single day of the trial, the details I have read about could rival even the most corny-written Grisham novel. With the rape, we have had character assassination of the victim. Guilty, sobbing siblings. The true meaning of hardly drunk as "lasing na lasing." I could go on and on.
I am happy that the case will not drag on for ages; the law provides that the trial should conclude within a year. But for whatever it's worth, this is what I have to say: when a man takes advantage of a woman who is too drunk to know any better, that is rape. When the act is consummated in front of a group of drunken, horny servicemen who should have known better than to egg on their buddy to have his way with a barely conscious woman, that is rape. And should the tricks of the lawyers overshadow the fact that there was sexual contact with no consent and with the victim having no full faculties to reason or resist, then the rape would not have only involved the victim but every other person victimized by the "style mo bulok" that enables perpetrators to circumvent our legal system.
But that is getting ahead of the story.
The trial is here, and that gives me hope. I sincerely believe there will be no whitewash or international conspiracies. I wait for the verdict with bated breath and with a prayer in my heart that the road this trial takes leads to justice, after all.
You may email missabsinthe@yahoo.com for your reactions and comments.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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