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The Arroyo government has sent diplomats to help in the case of a
woman allegedly raped by a US serviceman in Japan, President Gloria
Arroyo’s spokeswoman said Monday.
The Philippine foreign department “is
seriously monitoring the reported rape” of the Filipina, said
spokeswoman Lorelie Fajardo.
“The [foreign department] has dispatched
senior officials to look into the matter,” she told reporters.
“The government will extend legal and other appropriate steps so
that justice will be served,” she said.
The woman told police in Okinawa that a US
serviceman raped her on February 18, and Filipino diplomats there
have reported she will take the case to a Japanese court.
The victim is in the protective custody of
Japanese police, the foreign department said.
Reports of the alleged rape came as American and
Filipino troops were winding down three weeks of large-scale joint
military exercises in the Philippine countryside.
Last year, Washington called off the war games
with Manila after a US Marine was sentenced to 20 years for raping a
Filipina in December 2006.
Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was initially
detained at a local jail pending an appeal, but was later
transferred to a detention facility inside the US Embassy, causing a
public uproar here.
Fajardo denied local press reports in Manila
saying Washington was pressuring Manila to drop the case in Japan.
“The government will never forsake the welfare
and the service of justice to our fellow Filipina,” she said.
-- AFP
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