STREETWISE*
Subic Rape Case, a Year
After
Will
Nicole get justice? The U.S. government and the Arroyo administration have
done all they can to deny her justice in a court of law. Perhaps only the
court of public opinion and the triumph of the Filipino people's struggle
against foreign, imperialist domination will eventually vindicate her and
many more like her.
BY CAROL
PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Posted by Bulatlat
Nicole is the pseudonym used by the
Filipino victim in the sensational rape case involving "visiting" U.S.
troops out for some "rest and recreation" in Subic, formerly the biggest
U.S. naval base outside the U.S. mainland. Almost a year after the
incident, she appears to be a normal, comely young woman, in the flush of
life. But that life came to a standstill close to a year ago when she came
across six U.S. marines who jointly took advantage of her vulnerability,
abused her and then dumped her like a used rag on the
sidewalk in full view of several witnesses.
In the beginning, Nicole's case appeared strong. The Filipino driver of
the hired van where the rape took place gave corroborating testimony.
There were witnesses to how she was lifted out of the van "like a pig" by
the soldiers and left on the pavement with her pants and panties down to
her knees. They threw out a used condom after her.
There were witnesses on how she was so drunk when the soldiers brought her
out of the Neptune Club she couldn't have given her consent to go along
with them much less engage in consensual sex as they claimed in their
defense.
She was not a prostitute (not that prostitutes can't be raped). She had
just graduated from a reputable Catholic university and was managing a
family-owned canteen inside a Philippine military compound. She had come
to Subic, Olongapo City, with three of her siblings, one of them a minor,
simply to have a good time. They even had their strict mother's
permission to travel thousands of miles to Luzon from their hometown in
Mindanao.
Nicole was warned that her story could be turned upside down. She would
likely be portrayed as a "loose woman" out to catch herself a handsome,
white American boy and easy passage to the U.S. of A, still the "land of
milk and honey" for many Filipinos. Against all odds, including the social
stigma of being a rape victim, Nicole decided to pursue her case.
But she hadn't calculated on the sole Superpower's latest jingoistic
adventure called the "war against terror" and what it meant for the
Philippines. She didn't know that Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the de
facto president, had taken on the role of number one bugle girl for
U.S. imperialism in Southeast Asia, in an astute bid to shore up her shaky
hold on power.
She wasn't even aware that her case would get caught up in the
long-running debate on whether the continuing presence of thousands of
U.S. soldiers in the country courtesy of the RP-US Visiting Forces
Agreement (VFA) was good or bad for the country and its people.
Trouble started to appear when Philippine authorities quite easily gave up
custody over the six accused soldiers to U.S. authorities. The VFA
provisions regarding criminal jurisdiction over erring U.S. soldiers
became exposed as inutile guarantees, especially in the hands of a
politically servile and legally inept government, that crimes committed by
US servicemen in the country would be dealt with under the Philippine
criminal justice system.
A hallmark of any self-respecting sovereign country, its primordial right
to independently investigate, arrest, prosecute and punish any foreigner
accused of committing crimes inside its territory had been effectively
ceded to the country's former colonizer. Meanwhile, the presidential
spokesperson warned against "Leftists" whipping up anti-U.S. sentiment in
the wake of an "isolated" case.
Despite some noises from government quarters, notably the Senate, calling
for a review and even abrogation of the VFA, if it were found, in Nicole's
case, to be prejudicial to Philippine interests, the U.S. government got
what it wanted. Custody, the most seasoned Filipino trial lawyers money
could buy, and a mandatory one-year trial period during which time it
could undertake a well-oiled public relations campaign creating local
public opinion favorable to the accused.
The Filipino public would be reminded of how the U.S. armed forces are the
bulwark in the "global fight against terrorism" and that U.S. soldiers are
"trained to be disciplined ambassadors of good will, sensitive to local
culture and values" and could therefore not engage in such a heinous crime
as gang rape against a local girl.
Nicole was given the consuelo de bobo of government-provided
high-profile women lawyers who, truth be told, appeared to be more
concerned about how they looked rather than laying the ground for a
successful prosecution of the case. Until Nicole was able to obtain
private lawyers willing to work pro bono, whom she could trust, did
the uphill struggle to get justice appear to have a glimmer of hope.
The private prosecutors quickly realized however that the justice system
could not be relied upon to uphold their client's rights and legitimate
concerns. One legal setback came after another. Only four of the accused
and the driver of the van were eventually found by the first fiscal
assigned to the case to be liable for the crime of rape. However, the
Olongapo City judge, in a highly questionable ruling, dropped the driver
from being co-accused by saying that the decision to charge him was an
afterthought and that this was motivated by the driver's recantation of
parts of his previous testimony favorable to the accused.
Subsequently, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ruled that three of the four
principal co-accused should have the charges against them downgraded. This
decision was met with disbelief by the fiscal who engaged Mr. Gonzalez in
a public argument but who was eventually forced to resign from the case
for disagreeing with his boss.
Mr. Gonzales clearly undermined the government's own case by stating that
he would not "bow to the mob" calling for more than one to be charged as
part of the conspiracy to commit the crime of rape. He lambasted the
Makati City judge who eventually took over the trial and rejected his
decision to downgrade.
The new Makati City prosecutors also resigned, likely feeling the heat
from the Justice secretary who had made it crystal clear that he would be
breathing down their necks during the trial. In their stead, Mr. Gonzalez
appointed a team from the Justice Department itself headed by a certain
State Prosecutor Emilie de los Santos. In this way, Mr. Gonzalez acquired
more direct supervision and control of the public prosecutors and
presumably how they would try to win – or lose – the case.
The rest is of public knowledge: how the public prosecutors bungled the
cross-examination of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith who admitted to having
consensual sex with Nicole; how this provoked the victim and her mother to
cry foul and disclose unethical proposals by Prosecutor De los Santos that
the victim enter into an out-of-court settlement with the accused; how Ms.
De los Santos in turn badmouthed her client on national television as
someone who could not be trusted to tell the truth.
Pushed to the wall, Nicole and her mother demanded the replacement of the
public prosecution panel but Mr. Gonzalez refused. The public prosecutors
proceeded to undermine the case with several more highly questionable
moves until the trial ended in a climate of betrayal, recrimination and
gloom for the victim.
Will Nicole get justice? The U.S. government and the Arroyo administration
have done all they can to deny her justice in a court of law. Perhaps only
the court of public opinion and the triumph of the Filipino people's
struggle against foreign, imperialist domination will eventually vindicate
her and many more like her. Business World / Posted by Bulatlat
*Published in Business World
27-28 October 2006
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.