Senators Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago want the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) scrapped because the US refuses to yield American Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith to the Philippines.

Arroyo and Santiago may be brilliant legal minds, but they are not practical. They use their emotions rather than their heads.

If the VFA is scrapped, the international terrorist group al-Qaida, which supports the Abu Sayyaf, will make Muslim Mindanao its base of operation.

The reason al-Qaida can?t do that is because of the US troops who are holding war games with Filipino soldiers.

Let?s be honest with ourselves: Without the help of the Americans, our government would not have captured the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.

The US spent millions of dollars in reward money in the capture of Abu Sayyaf leaders.

If the Abu Sayyaf can?t carry out large-scale terrorism in the country at the moment, that?s because they?re being harassed by our troops with big help from US intelligence officers.

The location of Abu Sabaya ? that talkative, effeminate Abu Sayyaf leader who wore makeup ? was tracked down by US intelligence through satellite.

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Why can?t some of our national officials look at the big picture instead of nitpicking on a minor fault by the United States?
The rape supposedly committed by Smith on a Filipino woman ? ?supposedly? because the decision by the Makati judge was controversial ? is a small thing compared to what the US is doing for us in Mindanao.
Many lawyers I?ve talked with whom I consider very objective say there was no rape, that the judge was only playing to popular sentiments.
How could there have been rape when ?Nicole? went with Smith to the van after the two were seen ?dirty dancing? in a bar inside the Subic Freeport?
How could there have been rape when Smith used a condom during the sex act. If there was rape, would Smith have had the time to put on a condom?
How could there have been rape when Nicole was wearing tight-fitting jeans which could not have been removed by Smith without her help?
How could there have been rape in a moving van if the ?victim? resisted and moved about? If it?s very difficult to make it in a car that?s not moving, how much more in a moving vehicle?
You know why Nicole cried rape? Because she was dumped like a pig at a dark corner with her jeans off and the wet condom still on her.
You know why they dumped her? Because she was shouting ?I?m not a bitch? after one of Smith?s companions said, ?Get rid of your bitch? as the van was nearing the pier where their ship was moored.
For treating a Filipino woman so shabbily and humiliating her, Smith and his fellow Marines should be punished.
But definitely not for rape.

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I know this piece on Smith and ?Nicole? will again earn me the ire of many people, especially the feminists, who will call me ?sexist.?

I don?t care because I?m speaking the truth as I see it.

If we look at the rape case again using our head instead of our emotions, we will realize we were wrong in condemning an innocent man to a life in prison.

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Who?s this official at the Department of Budget and Management who makes it hard for suppliers he doesn?t favor to collect money from the department?

Even if the supplier has won in a public bidding but does not kowtow to this DBM official, he or she is doomed to wait for a long time.

Why doesn?t the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission investigate the shenanigans in its sister agency?