March 9, 2006 · Posted in: In the News
SWS: Filipinos believe justice can be
enforced against American offenders
IN its latest survey, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported majority of Filipinos agreed that justice can be enforced against American offenders.
Forty-two percent of the respondents said they were confident that the country will be able to enforce justice on American offenders; 26 percent disagreed.
The Fourth Quarter survey was conducted from November 27 to December 4, 2005. Last November, six US servicemen were accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina in Subic Bay. The Philippines has already formally asked the US government for custody of the four US marines charged. The US embassy has not indicated if custody would be turned over to the country.
Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, the US government can have custody of its personnel but in "extraordinary cases," the Philippines can ask for custody.
Those who closely followed the news on the alleged rape "had a much stronger belief that justice can be enforced," SWS said.
Confidence that justice will be served in such cases was high in the Visayas, but neutral in Metro Manila and Mindanao.
The Subic rape case story was the second most followed news at that time, with 62 percent of the respondents watching the developments. News on rallies against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the most closely watched, with seven out of ten or 69 percent of Filipinos following the events.
Other equally popular events watched are the Value-Added Tax, plunder trial of former President Joseph Estrada, tragedies and terrorist acts overseas, and activities of the Citizen’s Congress for Truth and Accountability.
See the SWS survey here.
5 Responses to SWS: Filipinos believe justice can be
enforced against American offenders
bukolitos
March 10th, 2006 at 1:38 am
Justice for the victim in lieu of Gloria’s survival? I’ll take the later. GMA is doing everything she can to survive and she won’t feel any remorse to sacrifice the justice that the victim is seeking. Napre-judge na ni Secretuta Gonzales ang kaso. Kaya lang nasa korte iyan dahil tinutukan ng media at cause oriented group.
ShadowDude
March 10th, 2006 at 3:35 am
Justice for the victim in this alleged rape case hasn’t been denied. Justice will be determined if and when the suspects are found guilty. It is for a Philippine court to judge guilt in the case, not an American court or the U.S. military. If the Philippine court returns a guilty verdict then they will surely be punished by the Philippine justice system. If a NOT guilty verdict is returned, then the accused U.S. Marines will receive justice and the victim will have to wait for her justice until the guilty party is found, charged and tried. What’s wrong with this? Justice is not only for the accuser, it’s also for those who might be wrongfully accused!
Considering the ‘lynch mob’ mentality that has been displayed by so many Filipinos in this case, it’s not at all surprising that the U.S. State Dept and the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps have insisted on retaining custody of the accused. This, after all, is the whole purpose of the visiting forces agreement: To make sure the rights of U.S. servicemen are protected. Filipino servicemen have reciprocal protection under the VFA – fair is fair and that’s as it should be!
So many Filipinos (and other nations/nationalities) have an ‘ignorant’ anti-American sentiment/attitude without even knowing why… it seems that people just seem to want to hate – even if it’s not warranted, even if they have never personally met or know an American. Is that fair? Is that ‘intelligent? I think not! People should be judged individually, not as stereotyped because of their nationality. There are good and bad people from ALL nationalities, not just America!
jester-in-exile
March 10th, 2006 at 11:20 am
shadowdude,
given the VFA time limits and judicial timeframes, the odds are stacked towards a dismissal without judgment rendered.
and don’t tell us about custody… homeland security isn’t exactly a paragon of fair treatment of arrested and deported foreign nationals. do they allow their embassies to take custody of them?
double standard, man, just like demanding that other countries follow the nuclear non-proliferation act when it isn’t itself a signatory and has its own nukes.
don’t get me wrong, i like my american friends. it’s their government policies i’ve trouble with.
ShadowDude
March 10th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
And I’m very troubled by the policies of the current Philippine government/dictatorship in almost all matters. Just as you seem to be – that is if your personal blog is an accurate view of your politics… A democratic government is supposed to be government of the people, by the people, FOR the people. That has yet to happen here. Look around you, man – do you see good government policy in action right now? Last year? Do you expect to see it next year? If you do you are either a most optimistic person or an uninformed one.
The VFA protects those marines from the politics of Gloria and her gang of bandits, not from the Filipino people. Look what they are doing to your fellow Filipinos. Look what they are doing to your own military personal in the name of “a state of national emergency”. Would you deny them the same protections that you claim everyone has an inalienable right to? If you do you are not nearly so wise as you paint yourself to be on your personal blog.
No government is perfect, certainly not America’s, but I would take the wisdom and fairness of the U.S. government and it’s oversight over that of the latest Philippine dictator’s government. I agree, George Dubya is an asshole, as are many of the far right and the religious right who are steering American policies at the moment, but there are at least protection and oversight for Americans and others who behave themselves and obey the law.
The “arrested and deported foreign nationals” you speak of should be in custody if they have violated American or international law. If I break Philippine law I will surely be incarcerated by your Philippine government, and you can bet I wouldn’t be given over to my government. If you refer to those Taliban POWs in Cuba, or Sadam in Iraq, do you think they should they be released to their nonexistent government? There is anarchy and a power vacuum in their ‘home’ countries… wherever that might be. I surely doubt justice would be served, for anyone, if that happened.
jester-in-exile
March 10th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
shadowdude,
you’ve raised several points that i think merit a reply.
do i expect good governance soon? heck no. not while GMA and her ilk (whether on her side or not) remain in positions of power and/or influence. i am optimistic, though, that within my lifetime decent leaders will emerge, but that won’t mean the struggle will be any easier. if anything, it’ll be more difficult.
“The VFA protects those marines from the politics of Gloria and her gang of bandits, not from the Filipino people.” – non sequitur, shadowdude. if you’ve followed the series of events from the time that the marines were accused of rape until the present, and you do not concede that norberto gonzales et al have been bending over backwards to accommodate the US government. instead of looking out for justice and the best interests of the victim, a lot of leeway was allowed to the marines. you will note that the wording of the VFA talks about requesting the host government for custody, not getting the servicemen and then presuming that custody was tacitly requested.
“Look what they are doing to your fellow Filipinos. Look what they are doing to your own military personal in the name of ‘a state of national emergency’. Would you deny them the same protections that you claim everyone has an inalienable right to?” – that’s another issue entirely. they are not going to be remanded to the US embassy, are they?
“If I break Philippine law I will surely be incarcerated by your Philippine government, and you can bet I wouldn’t be given over to my government.” — not in the same context. we’re talking about “illegals”, those who have overstayed. they broke the law, yes, but to be shackled wrist and ankle is unfair, wouldn’t you agree? check it out, i’ll stand by that; it was published quite recently.
“but there are at least protection and oversight for Americans and others who behave themselves and obey the law.” — the VFA goes far beyond that; in fact, the way it’s written reflects the thinking behind the US government’s rejection of being involved with the ICC.
i take exception to the “paint myself as wise” comment, as i don’t claim such wisdom (i should be so lucky if i could). however, this much i will say: yes, what you’ve read reflects my politics quite accurately. given that, and the things we see thus far, i wouldn’t stake odds against either the marines going free on a technicality (like the 1-year legal limit of the VFA) or will be set free with the idea of appeasing dubya, for international relations crapola. it’s happened countless times before, while the bases were here; a similar incident happened in yokohama years ago, which is why the base was moved to okinawa; it can damn well happen again.
if the US state department had justice in mind, coddling the accused would be unbecoming of them, wouldn’t it.
at any rate, i appreciate your comments, and the visit you made.