Judge Pozon Rules

The US Embassy's petition to gain custody of convicted rapist US Marine Daniel Smith was denied yesterday by Judge Benjamin Pozon (read the full story here). The US Embassy is now saying that the Judge misunderstood the Visiting Forces Agreement (that damned agreement that cause oriented groups opposed in the late 90s; if you want to see who among the Senators in 1999 were for the VFA, click here). Of course, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales (seriously, this guy should have long been sacked) and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Eduardo Malaya are very vocal about their support to the US Embassy's stand on the matter. In fact, they are "…exploring all appropriate legal remedies so that we could abide by our treaty obligations.” In short, para silang mga asong bahag ang buntot na susunod-sunod sa kanilang mga amo.

What's worse is there are fellow Filipinos and even fellow women at that who believe that Smith is innocent. One woman even started a Pro-Smith group, would you believe? The nerve of this woman to even say, "This is the voice of Filipino women, not of that rape victim and her supporters… I am doing this not because I am married to a US serviceman. I am doing this because I am a Filipina and I know what justice is."

I say, it is the victim's voice that matters here. It is the voice of the many Filipina women who have been victims of rape and abuse that should be heard. And, I'm happy Judge Pozon listened to "Nicole" in the din of all these people who are clamoring for "justice" for an American marine who raped a Filipina in our own soil. What kind of people are these?