Angry Filipinos yesterday burned a US flag and condemned President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a traitor who should be impeached after her government allowed a US Marine convicted of raping a Filipina to be moved from a local jail to US custody.
A Filipino judge had ordered Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, 21, to be detained in a Manila jail after his Dec. 4 conviction, but government officials intervened and allowed him to be whisked back to the US embassy just before midnight on Friday, an official said.
Washington has demanded custody of Smith, saying his detention violated the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement, which governs the conduct of US troops in the Philippines.
Smith has appealed his rape conviction and the accord provides that any accused US serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
Judge Benjamin Pozon, who convicted Smith, argued he should remain at the suburban Makati city jail because the provision in the bilateral accord did not apply after a conviction.
The Philippine departments of foreign affairs and justice have backed the US position. Still, the US canceled next year's annual joint military exercise with the Philippines because of the custody dispute.
Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus said Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo signed an agreement with the US embassy allowing the US to take custody of Smith.
The agreement was made on the condition that Filipino officials can check on him anytime and that he would be presented to the court when needed.
"This is purely an executive action," Corpus said. "The president is merely complying with international obligations."
"The government, any government for that matter in the world, cannot plead its Constitution and its laws as an excuse for noncompliance with treaty obligations," he added.
The emotional case has stirred anti-US protests in the former US colony.
The government's decision to grant the US custody of Smith provoked condemnations from the rape victim, a lawyers' group and left-wing activists.
About 80 left-wing activists set a US flag on fire near the heavily guarded embassy, yelling "Oust GMA, junk VFA," referring to Arroyo's initials and the bilateral accord.
Some protesters carried placards that read: "Stop rape of our women, stop rape of the justice system."
Riot police pushed the protesters back and unsuccessfully tried to arrest some in a brief scuffle.
The protesters later left without further incident.
Evalyn Ursua, the lawyer for the 23-year-old rape victim, said that Smith's transfer to the US embassy was "a clear rape of our Constitution."
Ursua said she was considering raising the custody issue to the Supreme Court and added that Arroyo may be subject to impeachment for failing to safeguard the country's laws and sovereignty.
Smith had sought a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals against the decision by Pozon to detain him at the Makati jail after his conviction.
The court rejected that petition on Dec. 19, but Arroyo's government appealed again.
The rape victim expressed dismay over the government's decision to return Smith to US custody.
"I almost want to tell you that it's better to be an American citizen. You'll really be protected even if you did something wrong," she said, her voice cracking.
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