US FILIPINOS PROTEST NATIONWIDE FOR ARREST OF US MARINE GANG RAPISTS IN PHILIPPINES, TERMINATION OF US-RP MILITARY AGREEMENT
News Release Nov. 5, 2005
Reference: Berna Ellorin, Public Info. Officer, BAYAN USA, email: ny @ bayanusa.org
US FILIPINOS PROTEST NATIONWIDE FOR ARREST OF US MARINE GANG RAPISTS IN PHILIPPINES, TERMINATION OF US-RP MILITARY AGREEMENT
NY/SF/LA/Seattle-- The national alliance of Filipino organizations in the US known as Bayan USA launched nationally-coordinated protest actions in 4 major US cities yesterday as part of a quick reaction demanding justice for the unnamed 22 year old Filipina woman in Olangapo City, Philippines who suffered and survived a brutal gang rape by six US marines last Tuesday.
Filipinos and allies gathered in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle in front of US military recruitment centers, federal buildings, college campuses, and Philippine consulates to demand the arrest by Philippine police of the six alleged perpetrators, US Marine officials who remain in custody of the US Embassy in Manila and whose whereabouts have not been disclosed by US officials.
"There is first the question of proper accountability for justice to be remotely possible. By currently languishing inside the iron bubble of US jurisdiction and custody, which historically translates into immunity, US troops are not only free to rape our women in our own country and get away with it, they SPIT at our laws and legal system. This is not a singular case of rape against one woman. This is represents the continuing US military rape of our national sovereignty," stated Bayan USA Secretary-General Rachel Redondiez.
"What we fear and will not tolerate is the high probability that US government and Macapagal-Arroyo government will treat this criminal charge by a Filipino like all major criminal charges made against US troops in the Philippines in the past-- like dirt to be swept under the rug. The US taxpayers, who fund these joint military exercises in the Philippines, deserve to know the true conduct of US interventionist powers abroad and how justice is routinely never pursued," Redondiez added.
Both US and Philippine government officials claim confidence that a full investigation will be exerted under accordance to criminal jurisdiction provisions spelled out under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of 1998.
"They must have a lopsided definition of justice, or not know how to read,” stated Bayan New York representative Berna Ellorin.
“The VFA accords primary US jurisdiction or concurrent jurisdiction over criminal charges files against US troops in the Philippines-- even when the victims are Filipinos, the crime was committed in the Philippines, and Philippine law has been violated. Even in cases of concurrent jurisdiction, the Philippine government has always waived to US authorities. Of course they claim that in special cases, the Philippine government can request for transfer of jurisdiction to make the accused available for trial. But looking back at how subservience to the US has dictated the Philippine government’s treatment of the hundreds of criminal charges filed by Filipinos against US troops in the long history of US military basing in the Philippines, the chances of this happening are zero-to-none," Ellorin explained.
"Right now we have a very subservient US puppet president in Malacanang. If Arroyo is true to her character, she will favor not disrupting her friendly relations with the US and painting an unpopular picture of the US troops over protecting the dignity of her own people," stated Freedom Siyam, Northwest Bayan representative.
The alliance asserted that abrogation of both the problematic VFA and Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) of 1951 is a necessary ingredient to ensure the rights and welfare of Filipinos are protected from such cases of criminal offense by foreign troops.
In fact, no US serviceman has ever been imprisoned for any violation committed in the country since the joint US-Philippine military exercises started with the approval of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
The VFA, a subsidiary agreement under the MDT between the US and the Philippines, allows for the fluid re-entry of US armed forces to the Philippines and free, unlimited access to at least 22 ports across the island nation. US military forces train and conduct joint military exercises with Philippine military on a “visitor’s basis”.
“Most Americans don’t realize the frequency and continuity of US military re-entry to the Philippines even after the former US bases in Clarke and Subic shut down in 1991 after the US-RP permanent basing agreement was terminated. In fact, under the context of the war on terror, the VFA has been exploited to frequently re-deploy thousands of US troops in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao on a widespread scale. The six rape suspects came with a shipful of 4500 just weeks prior to the rape report to conduct exercises under the VFA. In Zamboanga, approximately 5000 more US troops recently sailed in to set up base as well,” stated Bayan Southern California representative Melissa Roxas.
But Senate’s signing of the VFA in 1998 did not come without severe social costs to Filipinos. Bayan USA also condemned the underlying racial imbalance and discriminatory power structure behind the criminal justice system of both the US and Philippine governments.
“When Filipinos are accused of crimes abroad, especially here in the US, we fall under the complete criminal jurisdiction of our host country. The Philippine government has never insisted on partial jurisdiction on its nationals accused abroad let alone the primary jurisdiction the US is asserting over these rape suspects. We submit to the laws of the land, we are tried under its courts, and if convicted, we are punished. More often than not, we are not even accorded due process and are still criminalized, especially after 9/11. The same must go for US troops in the Philippines. These six rape suspects must be arrested by Philippine authorities and tried under Philippine law,” Roxas added.
Participating Bayan USA member organizations across the US for the protest actions total to over ten, including the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, BABAE, Anakbayan chapters in Seattle, LA, and New York, League of Filipino Students, Habi Arts, and the NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines. Allies and supporters of the Bayan-led action included the International Action Center, NY Labor Against the War, United Students Against Sweatshops, ANSWER, Asian Law Caucus, San Francisco Theological Seminary, Not in Our Name, Promotion of Church People’s Response, Asian Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center, the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee, the Cross Section Collective, Seattle Men Organizing Against Violence, Gabriela Network Seattle Chapter, the Philippine US Solidarity Organization, and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino-Vancouver chapter.
Bayan USA vowed to monitor the every movement of the rape case by forming a special US-based casecommittee, Taskforce Kababaihan (Women) to challenge both the Arroyo and US governments and further take up the alliance’s demands.