Monday, November 21, 2005
Gabriela wants neutral area for custody of Subic rape victim
By Edmund Sestoso
THE militant women's group Gabriela-Negros Oriental said rape victim of the six US servicemen in Subic must not be placed under the custody of either the Department of Justice or the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
Gabriela provincial chairperson Trelly Margiza said the victim must be placed under the custody of a neutral ground like a women's shelter or a church for her protection.
Marigza said the SBMA, as a government body, supports the RP-US Visiting Forces Agrement (VFA), and could influence the 22-year-old Filipina victim to withdraw her rape case.
"Right now the status of the accused is shut-off from the public," the Gabriela leader lamented.
Marigza also believed the six US rape suspects should be jailed while investigations were ongoing.
Earlier, the Department of Foreign Affairs notified the US Embassy in Manila to require the six accused Marines to appear in court for the preliminary hearing.
Named in the subpoena were US marines Keith Sikwood, Daniel Smith, Albert Lara, Dominic Duplantis, Corey Barris, and Chad Carpenter.
Marigza accused the Arroyo administration of double standard in handling criminals.
"With Arroyo's speed in parading to the public nabbed criminals and suspected terrorists as she did with Sahiron, she has less than a turtle's pace in presenting to the public the suspected US military men," she said.
She also scored Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye statement that the incident was an isolated case.
"There were preceding crimes by US military men in the country of which 1,260 cases were filed in Clark, Pampanga, and 2,005 cases filed in Subic from 1980 to 1988, including 15 cases of sexual abuse against children and 82 cases against women. But these were all dismissed. Many others were unreported," Marigza said.
Other cases, she said, involved 18 children infected with Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases in 1983 by American soldiers.
Marigza said the children were hidden and detained in a hospital to cover up the US military men's responsibilities.
Yet another case, she said, involved Larry Venaska, a US serviceman, who disappeared after a Filipina charged him of sexual abuse.
In August 2000, two kids died and another was injured in Cebu, when a bomb, left behind by American and Filipino soldiers during a concealed military exercise dubbed Flash Piston exercises, exploded.
(November 20, 2005 issue)
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