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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter
Any changes in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
will have to wait until after resolution of the Subic rape case
involving a US Marine, a Philippine official said on Thursday.
By then, Edilberto Adan added, Manila and
Washington will be more objective in amending the defense agreement
between them.
The Philippine and US governments are not yet
reviewing the VFA because both sides do not want the rape case and
“all the emotions that go with it” to figure in the rewording,
Adan, the executive director for the Presidential Commission on the
Visiting Forces Agreement, said during an exclusive roundtable with
The Manila Times. He is a retired three-star general and a former
spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The VFA drew flak when Lance Corporal Daniel
Smith was convicted of rape charges filed by a 22-year-old Filipino
woman, “Nicole.”
Under the defense pact, US troops can join
Filipino military forces in war exercises. The pact allows the
American military to advise Manila on joint hunts for terrorists in
the Philippines. It prohibits, though, deployment of US combatants
here.
Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional
Trial Court sentenced Smith to 40 years in jail for raping
“Nicole” on December 4, 2006. The US Marine has been detained at
the US Embassy in Manila since 2007. He had elevated his case to the
Court of Appeals.
Ruling by the appellate court has been delayed
by justices inhibiting themselves from the Subic rape case and by
the mandatory retirement of Associate Justice Agustin Dizon on June
27. He is the reviewing justice of the court’s 16th Division,
which is handling the case.
“The VFA does not exclusively cover criminal
jurisdiction. It also includes issues on visas, immigration, troop
listing and taxes, among others,” Adan said. He added that inputs
for the possible amendments will come from local-government and
police officials and executives of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Adan stressed that US military forces are in the
country because of the Philippine government’s invitation for them
to help Filipino troops fight terrorism and eradicate poverty.
“The fact that the agreement went on, even
after Lance Corporal Smith was put on trial and convicted by a
Philippine court, just proves that the Americans respect and comply
with our Constitution and laws,” he said.
“They [Americans] know their limitations and
obligations and have always followed what was agreed upon,” Adan
added.
He cited a recent joint war exercise and also a
recent medical and humanitarian mission of the US ship Mercy.
In the latest joint military exercise, Adan
said, some 6,000 US soldiers trained with about 2,600 Filipino
troops. He added that he plans to meet with US officials in August
to prepare for next year’s training exercise.
The Mercy mission provided free medical services
to around 40,000 patients in Northern Luzon and Bicol regions;
Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Sulu provinces in
southern Mindanao region; and Palawan province in western
Philippines.
In Sulu alone, Adan said, around $1.2 million
was spent to further improve the lives of the Muslim minority there.
The province supposedly is a stronghold of the Muslim extremist
group Abu Sayyaf. The group is listed as a foreign terrorist
organization by the US State Department.
“The VFA fights terrorism by showing the
people that the right way to a better life is through having these
socio-civic services [offered by Mercy], rather than turning away
from the government. The VFA is a work in progress,” he added.
The US government stepped up its military ties
with other Southeast Asian countries, such as Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam, earlier this week to solidify its defense links right in
the center of the once central Cold War battlefield.
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