Philippines admits US inaction on rape suspects custody transfer

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Monday that the US government has not yet taken any action on the Philippine government's request for custody of the six US serviceman who allegedly raped a Filipino woman at Subic Bay nearly two month ago.

Romulo told a press briefing that the Philippine government has not received any response from the US government since the official request to transfer custody was handed by the US embassy in Manila to Washington on Nov. 16.

"We continue to wait for words from Washington (regarding our request). We follow it up regularly," Romulo said.

He also said that the Department of Foreign Affairs has officially communicated the request and "it is our desire that under emergency (cases) they should be under our custody."

The six accused US military servicemen are still in the custody of the US embassy. They were among the 4,000 US troops who took part in the US-Philippine military exercise at Subic Bay in Central Luzon in October and November.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) signed between US and Philippine governments in 1998, the US side will retain custody of its service members accused of wrong doings unless the Philippine government requests to transfer the custody otherwise.

However, the United States can refuse such a request under a VFA provision that some Philippine lawmakers have criticized as infringing on national sovereignty.

The alleged rape was the first reported incident of such kind since the VFA came into effect in 1999 after the Philippine Senate ratified the agreement as a treaty.

Source: Xinhua