Is Smith a victim of slow RP justice?

MANILA It is now more than a year after Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, 21, was convicted to 40 years in jail by a Makati city court on Dec. 4, 2006 for raping a 22-year-old Filipina in Subic Bay, Zambales.

While waiting for the court of appeals to decide on his case, the Marine corporal is detained in a small cubicle in the US embassy which has been described as more comfortable than the Makati city jail where he was previously detained after the verdict.

The case has caused a strain in Philippine-American relation, particularly after the US government pressured the Philippines in 2006 to put Smith under the custody of the embassy while waiting for the court of appeals to decide the case.

Smith was with three other Marines on shore leave at Subic in November 2005 when the rape occurred. Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier were acquitted in the highly-charged court case. They were sent back to their outfit based in Japan.
There is no word on when the Court of Appeals will hand down its ruling on Smiths appeal. At the same time, activist groups have denounced the continued confinement of Smith in the US embassy instead of a Philippine jail.

Agence France Presse quoted Smiths Filipino lawyer, Jose Justiniano, as saying that the Marine is locked up in a tiny room in the embassy compound which is more comfortable than a Manila prison cell.

Justiniano told AFP that Theres no television. Just a bed, some cooking utensils and a small stove. The room is air-conditioned and Smith, who spends his time reading and cooking, is allowed out for exercise, but just like any detainee, he is guarded 24 hours, Justiniano said.

Earlier, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney assured the Philippine media that Smith was not being given special treatment. She also mentioned the fact that Smiths relatives have been apprehensive about his fate as well as about his health.

Smith is still in the Philippines and the Department of Interior and Local Government is monitoring (the case),” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said, brushing aside charges by local activists that a deal may be struck between the two governments that will set Smith free.

The case also put a strain on the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries which specifies the legal responsibilities of US troops who come to the Philippines to participate in the annual war exercises with RP troops.

The US claims the treaty allows the US government to retain custody of a soldier facing charges in the Philippines until a final decision is rendered. But activists said the treaty does not provide for such special treatment.

Smith has maintained his innocence, saying he had consensual sex with the woman known only as Nicole, who has largely remained out of sight since the trail. The case of Nicole has been taken up by the Filipina Womens Network and other groups in the United States.

Supporters of Nicole look at the case as one of justice not only for a Filipina but for the entire nation.
When the Philippine judge insisted that Smith be detained in a local jail pending a decision on his appeal, the US abruptly cancelled war games and hinted on withdrawal of economic and military aid to the country.

Philippine officials, over the strong protests of nationalists, took Smith from the Makati jail one evening and turned him over to the US embassy. Supporters of Nicole filed a case in court questioning the action of the Philippine government. This case is also pending.

AFP quoted an unnamed foreign department consultant as saying the Smith case had helped the anti-US activists. Its an irritant, he said of the case. Its something that awakens old feelings and sentiments that had been sealed by the removal of the bases.

Attention to the case surfaces every time there is a report about special treatment by the US embassy on Smith or about the Philippine government trying to forge an agreement with the US over the case.

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