SMITH “TRANSFER”: Erosion of Independence of the Philippine Judiciary & Justiice System : QC IMC

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) condemns the illegal transfer of convicted rapist American serviceman Lance Corporal Daniel Smith from the Makati City Jail to the U.S. embassy around 11 p.m. last night. This act perpetrated with intended impunity erodes the independence of the Philippine judiciary and of the justice system.

The decision to by-pass the judicial process was done in connivance with both the Philippine Executive and the U.S. government and the implementation, according to U.S. Embassy spokesperson Matthew Lussenhop, “was in cooperation with the Philippine police.” Bereft of any court order, the “transfer” can only be a legalized “break-out” of Makati jail. Smith is essentially a “fugitive” of the law.

Makati regional trial court Judge Benjamin Pozon has already ruled against the insistence of Smith’s lawyers, the US embassy and the Philippine Executive with the Departments of Justice and of Foreign Affairs that Smith’s detention violates the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The latter cite a provision in the said agreement that says any accused American serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted. Judge Pozon said the provision applies only during “the judicial proceedings in the trial court” and expires upon a defendant’s conviction, regardless of a pending appeal.

PAHRA perceives that the “transfer” and perhaps eventual “freedom” of Smith is an “exchange of gifts” between Ms. Gloria M. Arroyo and the U.S. government for the latter to keep the Balikatan schedule in February, as well as an extension of support to the former despite the questioned legitimacy of her presidency. The exchange was a repeated rape of Philippine dignity – the independence of the Philippine judiciary and of the judicial system for a convicted rapist.

It is doubly ironic that for a while, Ms. Arroyo and other defenders of the VFA protested that violation of the VFA would cast doubt on the Philippine government’s sincerity to honor its international commitments or treatises, the Philippine government has not drawn from the full force of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), particularly on the independence of the judiciary and on due process.

By giving in to the arm-twisting of the U.S. government, this administration is becoming an obstacle to the Philippine State’s compliance of its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights of the peoples of the Philippine Archipelago.