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By William B. Depasupil
Reporter
The Court of Appeals is expected
to come out anytime now with a decision on the appeal of US Marine
Daniel Smith, convicted of raping a 22-year-old Filipina known only
as “Nicole.”
Court sources told The Manila
Times that the decision will be out on or before President Gloria
Arroyo’s state visit to Washington, D.C., and New York City from
June 24 to 29. She is to meet with President George W. Bush during
that visit.
Mrs. Arroyo’s US visit has
fueled apprehensions of anti-US activists and militant feminists
that the appellate court’s decision might result in Smith’s
acquittal as a concession to the United States government.
Makati Regional Trial Court Judge
Benjamin Pozon handed Smith the guilty verdict on December 4, 2006,
sentencing him to 40 years in prison. Smith filed an appeal. He is
detained at US Embassy in Manila until the verdict is handed down.
Smith’s petition for review of
his case is with the Court of Appeal’s 17th Division. Its members
included Associate Justices Celia Librea-Leagogo, Regalado Maambong
and Agustin Dizon, who was designated as the ponente or writer of
the decision. Dizon is scheduled to retire on June 27.
According to The Times’ source,
Dizon has already drafted a decision, and all it needs is
Leagogo’s and Maambong’s concurrence. Leagogo inhibited herself
from the case and was replaced by Associate Justice Apolinario
Bruselas Jr., who also inhibited himself. Maambong, meanwhile, has
left for an official travel to Jerusalem.
The source added that Associate
Justice Vicente Veloso is the latest addition to the 17th Division.
Members of the Task Force Subic
Rape, an organization monitoring developments in the controversial
rape case, had appealed to the appellate justices’ sense of
fairness and independence.
The task force revealed that to
date, not one member of the US military has been convicted for
violating the rights of Filipinos. The group claimed that some 3,211
different cases were filed against Americans in Subic and Clark from
1980 to 1987.
The US used to operate a military
airbase in Clark and a naval base in Olongapo City and Subic,
Zambales. In 1991, however, the Senate refused to extend a treaty
allowing the continued hosting by the Philippines of these bases.
The eruption of Mount Pinatubo
eventually brought to a stop the operations of the American bases.
US personnel were evacuated, and many facilities in these bases were
destroyed and never repaired after the eruption.
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