Palace offer of help to 'Vanessa' like a 'kiss of death'

MANILA, Philippines - Like a kiss of death.

This was how militant women’s group Gabriela described yesterday the offer of Malacañang to support “Vanessa,” said to be the latest rape victim allegedly of another US serviceman in the Philippines.

In a statement, Gabriela said it is “disgustingly hypocritical” of the Arroyo administration to offer its support to Vanessa after it “sold out justice in the Subic rape case.”

“After the unconscionable handling of the Arroyo government on the Subic rape case – by being the prime accomplice of the US government to free (Lance Corporal Daniel) Smith and spare the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) – Malacañang now has the gall to pretend that it will support Vanessa in her quest for justice,” said Emmi de Jesus, secretary-general of Gabriela.

Vanessa sought the help of Gabriela the day after an alleged US Marine, whom the group called John Jones, allegedly raped her last April 19 in a five-star hotel in Makati City.

She recounted her “ordeal” during a press conference last Thursday at the Gabriela office in Quezon City.

Vanessa, however, opted not to bring her case before the court, apparently discouraged by the fate of the case of “Nicole” who left for the US days before the Court of Appeals acquitted last month her purported attacker who was earlier convicted by the lower court for rape.

Gabriela was also the group that helped Nicole during her legal battle against Smith.

The group said Vanessa’s coming out and relating her ordeal before the media was merely to let the public know about the alleged abuses of American servicemen against women in the country.

“The legal action is not a foremost concern at this point regarding the victim, Vanessa (not her real name),” De Jesus said.

“Revealing her ordeal opened a floodgate of renewed anguish but this is part of the process for her to come to terms with the impact of violence committed against her. The utmost priority is to help Vanessa cope,” she also said.

Last Friday, women from various groups and professions gathered in a forum titled “Rape and US Militarism.”

The forum aimed “to dissect the anatomy of rape vis-a-vis the culture of violence embedded within US militarist policies.”

De Jesus insisted that women in the country continue to be vulnerable, go through so much anguish, and are discouraged from seeking justice.

He lamented that it seems that US troops can freely commit crimes and go unpunished “because they are (given assurance) that the US and Philippine governments will work to absolve them.”

Gabriela vowed to continue to work with other groups to end US military presence in the country and abrogate the VFA.