(no subject)
Smith returned to custody of US embassy
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:29am (Mla time) 12/30/2006
(2ND UPDATE) Convicted American serviceman Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was transferred from the Makati City Jail to the US embassy late evening Friday “on the order of the Philippine government,” US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told INQUIRER.net.
Smith’s transfer came almost a month after the US and Philippine governments urged a local court to turn him over to American custody while his case is on appeal, citing provisions under the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
"The government of the Philippines made a decision to transfer Lance Corporal Daniel Smith back to US custody, consistent with the terms of the VFA," Lussenhop told The Associated Press.
“I do not know when the decision was precisely given, but the transfer was made at around 11 o'clock,” he said, adding it “was in cooperation with the Philippine police.”
Smith, 21, of St. Louis, was found guilty on December 4 of raping a Filipino woman, identified in court as “Nicole,” and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He has been detained at the Makati City jail.
The rape case has tested relations between the two countries, with the Philippine courts refusing to hand Smith over to the US embassy as requested.
The rape case has also sparked street protests and revived anti-American sentiment in the former US colony.
The United States cancelled its annual joint military exercises with the Philippines in 2007 in protest at the refusal, which had raised concerns over the legal rights of US soldiers in this country.
Smith's lawyers, the US embassy, and the Philippine departments of justice and foreign affairs have all said the American Marine’s current detention violates the VFA, which covers the presence of US troops in the Philippines.
A provision in the agreement says any accused American serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
But Makati regional trial court Judge Benjamin Pozon, who issued the verdict, said the provision applies only during "the judicial proceedings in the trial court" and expires upon a defendant's conviction, regardless of a pending appeal.
Private prosecutor Evalyn Ursua, lawyer for Subic rape victim Nicole, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should be impeached for allowing the transfer of Smith to US custody.
"I am sure without her order, this transfer will not be possible," she said.
Ursua said her group would also file criminal cases against Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romula, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and all those responsible for Smith’s transfer.
"They are all rapists. They raped our Constitution. They should all be held criminally liable," Ursua said.
Palace and Philippine foreign affairs officials could not be reached for comment.
Leftist and nationalist groups had earlier hailed Smith's detention in the Makati jail, saying it was in accordance with local laws.
They charged that US efforts to get him transferred were "arm-twisting."
Arroyo's government had said Smith should be handed over.
Officials have said the cancellation of the joint exercises was a severe setback in diplomatic relations and to the upgrading of the poorly-equipped Philippine military.
Lussenhop said it was “too early to say” if the cancelled joint military exercises would push through now that Smith was back in US custody. “As of now it is still cancelled,” he said.
The Philippines has one of the most poorly-equipped armed forces in the region and is already hard-pressed battling a 7,100-strong communist insurgency as well as Muslim extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf.
It has been hoping for US aid to upgrade its armed forces.
Balikatan is the largest US military exercise held in the Philippines each year, involving as many as 5,000 American soldiers.
At least one round of joint exercises between Filipino and US troops has been planned in February, said a military official who coordinated past war games.
The convicted marine said the sex in the back of a van after a night out on the town following military exercises last year was consensual.
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