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Double jeopardy

Double standards. Philippine justice system. Two seemingly incompatible concepts but clearly manifested in the rape case involving four US marines in Subic.

Concretely, the US marines are still in custody of the United States of America (US) embassy and the sad fact is that the Philippine government is unlikely to take steps to arrest and bring into custody these alleged rapists simply because of a one-sided accord, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). On the other hand, police have been quick as lightning in arresting alleged terrorists even on grounds of mere suspicion just like what happened to a Muslim in Baguio City who was mistakenly identified as Abu Tagalog.

According to CODAL, a group of lawyers and law professors, the VFA is a mere executive agreement because the US Senate has not ratified it. The VFA cannot override the Philippine Constitution and Philippine justice system.

Thus, US citizens particularly these US marines should abide by Philippine laws and be subjected to the processes of Philippine courts. They should undergo the same processes that any Filipino must undergo whenever a crime is committed. Most importantly, these US marines should be directly under the jurisdiction of the Philippine courts.

It is very uncharacteristic and unFilipino for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to claim that Philippine laws are inapplicable to US soldiers. It is making the case complicated because under Philippine criminal laws, local courts can not proceed with the trial if the accused are not in the court’s custody. The present set-up wherein the accused marines are in the custody of the US embassy is certainly not under the jurisdiction of the Olongapo Regional Trial Court. Further, the US embassy will certainly use GMA’s and the DFA’s claim as leverage to keep the accused marines in their custody.

Secondly, GMA’s and the DFA’s claim show the priority and bias of the present administration in promoting the interest of US soldiers above the interest of the Filipinos, in this case the 22-year old rape victim. It seems that GMA is bent to please the US even to the extent of violating the rights of the victim, a Filipina. For the Arroyo government to recognize the VFA as a treaty and above the Philippine Constitution even if the US government only treats the VFA as an executive agreement is clearly one-sided and is tantamount to surrendering the sovereignty of the Filipino nation.

Sovereignty remains to be an abstract concept as far as this government is concerned. #

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