Senators want US Embassy to prove Smith is still there
By Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:48:00 09/21/2008
Filed Under: Crime, Law & Justice
MANILA, Philippines—Senators on Saturday urged the US Embassy to open its doors so government agencies can check whether or not convicted rapist Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith is still detained at the embassy.
Lawyer Harry Roque had alleged before the Supreme Court on Friday that a US military official had told him during a wine tasting event that Smith was no longer detained at the embassy and had been staying somewhere in Quezon City.
Government lawyer Agnes Devanadera later said Roque’s allegations were not true and said Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus had just visited Smith at the embassy compound last Sept. 12.
But Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, co-chair of the legislative oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) said (Roque’s) allegation “is a serious issue that merits the attention of the appropriate agencies of the government.”
“The only way to quell these doubts and pacify both sides is to show that these fears are not true. They can just simply allow a team to go there and look,” Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano added.
The Makati City Regional Trial Court convicted Smith in 2006 for raping a Filipino, identified in the media as “Nicole.” He was sent to the Makati City Jail but was transferred 26 days later to the US Embassy in line with the provisions of the VFA.
Majority Leader Sen. Francis Pangilinan also called on the high court to immediately resolve the custody issue on Smith.
“We urge the Supreme Court to swiftly resolve the pending petition before it on the matter of jurisdiction over the person of Corporal Smith,” Pangilinan said in a text message.
The counsel of the convicted American soldier denounced Roque for questioning the whereabouts of the convicted rapist during the oral arguments on the VFA before the Supreme Court.
“That’s hearsay. He has no a personal knowledge about it. It was improper for him to talk about that before the magistrates. Suppose they believe it? He just can’t say things that are never verified,” Smith’s lawyer Jose Justiniano told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
“If he has a witness, then let the witness make an affidavit,” Justiniano said.
“He (Smith) has always been in the US Embassy. The US has no facility in Quezon City. I can assure you that he is in the embassy. I have access to him,” the lawyer added.
He said Smith never left the embassy compound except on one occasion when he was rushed to a hospital for a stomachache, and had to undergo surgery to remove gallbladder stones.
Justiniano said he visited Smith a month ago and is in touch with him by phone.
He said that if Smith had been a party to the Supreme Court case, he, as Smith’s counsel would have asked that Roque be cited for contempt of court for baseless allegations that could harm Smith’s appeal of his conviction.
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