PRESSURE TO SCRAP THE VFA INCREASES
23 April 2009 5:30pm, Manila time
American Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith has just been acquitted by the Court of Appeals. The decision was promulgated by the CA's 11th Division with the ponencia rendered by Associate Justice Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa and concurred in by Associate Justices Remedios Salazar-Fernando and Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal (did you notice that all of there lady associate justices have hyphens between their surnames?)
The Court of Appeals decision overturns the guilty verdict on Smith handed down on December 4, 2006 by Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 139.
This development comes amidst calls for the Supreme Court to look into the submission by Smith's counsel to the Court of Appeals of "Nicole's" retraction affidavit and the leakage of the CA ruling.
The following video is an interview by Igan Arnold Clavio with Atty. Evalyn Ursua, former lawyer of "Nicole," aired at Unang Balita over GMA-7 on March 25, 2009:
For a quick refresher on the Daniel Smith-"Nicole" rape case, here's an excellent timeline courtesy of gmanews.tv.
The way I see it, this acquittal will increase pressure on our lawmakers to revoke the VFA. If "Nicole" does not "retract" her "retraction," scrapping the VFA appears to be the only way of redeeming Filipino honor.
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Injustice as its worst in the country! That American bastard should have his ass drilled for life in a rat-infested prison in the Philippines but instead he spends his time in an air-conditioned facility. Now, he's out and going back to normal life like nothing ever happened.
ReplyDeleteAbolish VFA!
Hi, Mos and Nikou,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting your comment here. The VFA should be abolished if only to show the Americans that they cannot trample on Filipino honor.
We have nothing personal against the Americans though; their government is actually the one that's been misguided for quite a long time, proof of which are the recently-disclosed Department of Justice memos on the use of torture. Our government as well has an unenviable record of kowtowing to the wishes of the Americans; take for example the case of the parity rights amendment to the 1935 Constitution which gave American citizens equal rights with Filipinos to exploit our natural resources.
I hope President Obama's administration will be able to show a gentler face of America to the world as he appears to be beginning to do now. A lot more, however, needs to be done if the world is to move beyond some of the pain that past American government misdeeds have caused.
I hope also that all of us will be more tolerant and more respectful of other people; that is the best way to foster peace in the world.
Take care always you two and God bless!