Palace: War games' scrapping hurts modernization, alliance

Malacañang on Saturday lamented the United States’ cancellation of the Balikatan joint military exercises over a custody row involving convicted rapist US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith as a "setback" to the military's modernization program and the Philippine-US alliance. "The cancellation of these exercises are a setback to our military modernization program, the interoperability of Philippine and US forces and to the strategic alliance of both countries," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement, breaking Malacañang’s silence on the US’ move on Friday to scrap the war games. Bunye said the government will "respect" the US' decision to cancel the joint military exercises, adding it understands the US concern over the custody issue involving Smith. He added that the Philippines remains firmly committed to the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and is undertaking all means to have Smith transferred to US custody soonest but stressed this will be "under our judicial processes." Bunye also appealed to the US to understand the relationship between the executive branch and the courts under the "democratic separation of powers". "We are not making excuses for the apparent non-compliance with the VFA but we have to seek relief through the justice system that defines the rule of law," he said. Bunye also reassured the United States that the Philippine government is working to have Smith transferred to US Embassy custody. Smith was convicted by a Makati court earlier this month of raping a Filipino woman in Subic in November last year. The US marine was immediately taken to the Makati City Jail after the verdict’s promulgation. Smith's co-accused – Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier and Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood – were acquitted and quickly flown to a US military base in Okinawa, Japan. Bunye also invoked the long friendship between the Philippines and the US, which he said is "grounded on time-honored ties over more than a century." "We hope that the exercises can be put back on track as soon as possible," he added. -GMANews.TV