SC thumbs down petition calling for VFA renegotiation

From InterAksyon (Feb 6): SC thumbs down petition calling for VFA renegotiation

There is no need to renegotiate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

This is what the Supreme Court said Thursday when it dismissed a petition filed by University of the Philippines College of Law and CenterLaw Professor Harry Roque.

In its ruling, the Court en banc affirmed its earlier ruling on the legality of the VFA, which governed the conduct of joint military exercises between Filipino and American soldiers and said part of its ruling ordering the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to negotiate with representatives of the US government for an agreement on detention facilities under Philippine authorities has been complied with.

“The directive under the February 11, 2009 for the DFA to negotiate with the United States representatives for the appropriate agreement on detention facilities under Philippine authorities had been complied with, thus, the said decision is in the process of being executed,” the high court's order said.

The high tribunal said the DFA had already taken concrete measures to comply with the 2009 ruling including the designation of and concurrence by both governments that the AFP Custodial Center in Camp Aguinaldo shall serve as an appropriate detention facility.

Roque's petition asked the high court to compel the government to comply with the 2009 ruling to renegotiate portions of the VFA with the U.S. particularly on the question of detention facilities for U.S. military men who committed crimes such as the 2005 rape case in Subic, Zambales involving US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith.

Smith was convicted by Branch 139 of the Makati City Regional Trial Court for the rape of “Nicole” but the verdict was overturned by the Court of Appeals.

Smith was initially detained at the Makati City jail but was taken into custody by the Americans and subsequently stayed at a facility inside the U.S. Embassy on Roxas Boulevard while waiting for his appeal.

The high court also said that Roque should have instead filed his petition with the Makati court that tried the case since the Supreme Court had “no executing officer unlike regional trial courts.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/80254/sc-thumbs-down-petition-calling-for-vfa-renegotiation