The Philippines marks the second anniversary Thursday of the controversial Subic rape case that resulted in the conviction of one of the four US servicemen tagged as rapists by victim “Nicole” and helped compel senators to raise calls for a review or abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines

Elsewhere, US soldiers are tagged anew as suspects in another gang-rape incident, this time in Japan, where activists have sought the help and advice of their visiting Filipino counterparts.

Rape victim “Nicole” is now working in an undisclosed company here in the Philippines, says Gabriela Women’s Party secretary-general Cristina Palabay, one of her close supporters throughout her court ordeal and who continues to keep in touch with her.

Palabay says Nicole is “doing fine in her work which, unfortunately, she cannot disclose to anyone to preserve her sense of privacy”.

In her affidavit-complaint, “Nicole” said she was raped just before the midnight of Nov. 1, 2005 inside a moving Starex van at Alava Pier at the former US base in Subic Bay.

Convicted rapist still in US custody

Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, convicted for raping “Nicole”, should be languishing at the Makati City Jail for his crime after he was found guilty in a Dec. 4, 2006 ruling of the Makati Regional Trial Court.

But Smith did not last for even a month at the Makati City Jail. Agents from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) transferred Smith to the custody of the US Embassy on Dec. 29, 2006 after Foreign Affairs Sec. Alberto Romulo and Kristie Kenney signed an agreement on Dec. 22 authorizing the transfer.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal assures the public that “Smith is definitely still in the US Embassy here in the Philippines.”

While clarifying that it is the DILG that is tasked to check on Smith as per the Romulo-Kenney agreement, Cristobal nevertheless says that that the DFA has information that rape convict remains at the US Embassy.

In a text message, US Embassy Spokesperson Rebecca Thompson said that “Smith remains in US custody and confined to quarters on the grounds of the US Embassy in Manila.”

“He is in good health,” said Thompson, when asked whether Smith has recuperated from a minor operation reported prior to the May 2007 elections.

Smith’s three other companions were immediately sent to a US military facility in Japan after the lower court acquitted them.

Another gang-rape by US soldiers

Groups critical of US military presence in the country are set to stage protest actions to mark the rape incident’s anniversary here in Manila – and in Iwakuni City in Japan.

Bayan Secretary-General Renato M. Reyes Jr. and Anakbayan Chairperson Eleanor de Guzman are now at Iwakuni City on the invitation of the Asia-Wide Campaign to share the Philippine experience on prosecuting US soldiers and to join protests seeking the removal of US bases in Japan.

In an email sent to Malaya, Reyes says four US soldiers have been tagged in the rape of a 19-year old Japanese woman on Oct. 14, sparking protests in Iwakuni City which hosts a recently-enlarged US Marine Airbase.

“The four US soldiers are being investigated by the Japanese authorities, but like in the Subic rape case, these alleged rapists remain in US custody,” says Reyes.

The two Filipino activists and delegates from South Korea and Taiwan joined a big rally Sunday at Iwakuni City denouncing the rape incident and calling for the closure of the US military facility there.

“What is definitely disturbing here is that the US response in the Subic rape incident seems to be repeated in the Iwakuni incident. Again the US government refuses to give custody of their soldiers to local authorities,” Reyes said.

Reyes slammed the “cavalier attitude” of US government on the issue of custody. “The US government seems to be encouraging the abusive behavior of American servicemen. That they feel they can pick up just any girl in Subic or Iwakuni and gang rape her in a van is a symptom of sheer arrogance and utter disrespect for our peoples.”

The rape case prompted Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, to file a resolution in calling for a review of the VFA that authorized reentry of US troops in Philippine territory after the closure of the US military bases in 1991.

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza also filed a resolution in the Lower House seeking to junk the VFA. ###