Joker Arroyo: If US can’t protect Pinays from US soldiers....

Former Senator Joker Arroyo on Thursday called on lawmakers to reflect on the death of Filipino transgender woman Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude allegedly in the hands of an American soldier as a guide in reviewing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States.

 

“If the US cannot even protect Filipino women from US servicemen, how can Filipinos rely on the US to live-up to her commitments embodied in the treaties or agreements they have with us?,” Arroyo said in a press statement issued on Thursday.

 

The 87-year-old Arroyo, a former human rights lawyer, said the recent incident was not an isolated case involving the Philippines and the US, as “in the past 60 years, similar cases have arisen”.

The VFA is a treaty signed in 1998 that covers the conduct of US forces that participate in joint military exercises in the country with Filipino troops.

Aside from the VFA, the Philippines and the US have the Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1951. The two countries also had a bases treaty that allowed the US to maintain military facilities in the country but the pact expired in 1991.

 

Arroyo said that as in the past, the conflicts that arose from the Philippines' almost half a dozen defense and security arrangements with the US, usually stemmed not from security-related issues, but from the violations of the country's criminal laws.

 

“In every case, it would involve U.S. servicemen who violate Philippine criminal laws when they are off-duty,” Arroyo said.

 

On October 11, Laude was found brutally killed inside the toilet of an inn in Olongapo City. The suspect behind the killing was 19-year-old US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was last seen with Laude the night when the incident happened.

 

Amid calles for Pemberton to be placed under the Philippine custody, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, in an interview with GMA's “Unang Hirit” on Thursday, maintained that the US has the right to take custody of its soldiers under the VFA rules.

 

“Predictably, the US immediately protects the US servicemen,” Arroyo said.

 

He said this is because “the US does not have faith in the Philippines' justice system.”

 

“Since the US does not have faith in the Philippines’ justice system, how can Filipinos be expected to have faith in America’s security commitments?” Arroyo said.

 

“That should be food for thought for the Senate whose members’ battle-cry is to review the VFA, but with a cautionary statement not to abrogate it,” he added.

 

Arroyo also called for the review of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a recently-signed accord that would increase US military presense in the country.

 

The EDCA, which falls within the scope of the VFA, will give US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and pre-position equipment, aircraft and vessels.

 

“The EDCA, which is before the Supreme Court, has interlocking references with VFA. Yet the haunting question is trust, whether as allies we can trust each other,” Arroyo said. —NB, GMA News