No jurisdiction over US servicemen — Embassy

The 18 US Navy SEAL commandos may not have to appear before local prosecutors probing the death of two Filipino boys due to a grenade that was left unexploded in a joint Philippine-US military exercise in Toledo City, Cebu last August.

US Embassy spokesman Thomas Skipper said the 18 US Navy men were on official duty when the incident occurred and thus, were not covered by a Philippine court.

The two children were killed and another boy was injured after they tinkered with an unexploded grenade which they found at the Atlas Mining’s firing range after the joint military exercise.

US and Philippine troops took part in the live fire exercise, dubbed "Flash Piston 00-7," in Toledo City last Aug. 19 which was conducted under the terms of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Under the VFA, however, Philippine courts have no jurisdiction over US military men for incidents arising out of the discharge of official duties.

"There’s no question that these personnel were on official duty," Skipper said, adding that this exempts the US servicemen from having to appear before a Philippine court.

Skipper made the statement after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced last week that the Toledo City prosecutor revealed that it would issue summons to the 18 US Navy men to submit depositions and attend a hearing of the charges filed against them by the families of the deceased children.

The summons were supposed to have been sent to the VFA Commission (VFACOM), a government panel monitoring Philippine-US military exercises, according to VFACOM spokesman Elmer Cato.

But since the US Embassy claimed that the US servicemen were on official duty, Cato said the families of the victims will be assisted in filing homicide cases with US courts to give justice to the victims.

The names of the US servicemen who took part in the joint exercise were released to the Toledo City prosecutor on orders of Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, co-chairmen of the VFACOM.