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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
The United States on Friday snubbed the
Philippine government’s urgent call for a review of the Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA) that sparked the recent custody row over a
rape convict.
A few days after taking out Lance Corporal
Daniel Smith from the Makati City Jail and returning him to US
Embassy custody, Malacañang said it was eyeing a review of the VFA.
The treaty covers the conduct of joint US-RP
military exercises.
US officials, however, called the proposal
“premature.”
“I think we stated many times previously that
it would be premature to renegotiate the VFA while there is this
current case that remains in the Philippine judicial system,”
embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said.
“That being said, we do consult regularly and
often with the Philippine government regarding the interpretation
and implementation of the VFA,” he added.
Pressed by The Manila Times as to the future
custody of Smith if he looses the legal case, Lussenhop said: “I
don’t want to speculate what would happen after the case. It would
be premature too.”
After the final verdict
But the US Embassy spokesman disagreed with
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who said the government would bring
Smith immediately to the national penitentiary if higher courts
uphold the guilty verdict by the Makati Regional Trial Court.
Lussenhop, still citing the VFA, said that even
with a final guilty verdict Manila and Washington need to agree on a
detention facility for Smith.
“What we will do is that we will be guided by
the Visiting Forces Agreement [VFA] that covers the legal status of
US servicemen, and the VFA does state that the confinement and
detention would be carried out in an area agreed upon by US and RP
authorities,” Lussenhop said.
“Well, we are certainly not there yet, but
there is [in the VFA] a very clear direction on how to handle
that,” he added.
Smith was convicted on December 4 of raping a
Filipina at the Subic Bay Freeport in November 2005. The judge
sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
His sudden, nighttime transfer from jail raised
a public outcry because it was done without a court order.
Kenney lecture
US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said that she was
not in favor of reviewing the VFA for possible amendments.
“At this point, that would be premature
because we’re not even fully complying with the agreement on the
Philippine side so it’s very premature to say that,” Kenney
said. “I think we need to solve this particular issue first
because right now we’re having a little difficulty with complying
with the VFA, so it’d be premature to talk about what will come
next.”
She stressed that the VFA works very well since
Smith’s case was heard in a Philippine court.
Kenney said following the provisions of the VFA,
including turning Smith over to US custody, is important for the
Philippines credibility.
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