If an s.o.b. is a US s.o.b., it is a good s.o.b.

Four American soldiers, all based in Okinawa with a United States Marine unit stationed there, are now before a Philippine court facing rape charges filed by a 22-year-old Filipino woman from Zamboanga.

The alleged rape took place in a bar in Olongapo at the conclusion of counter-terrorism manuevers the American servicemen had with Filipino troops. The presence of the US soldiers on Philippine soil is allowed under the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries.

The four soldiers would have been able to escape had it not been for the timely issuance of a court order for their arrest. They were actually already on board their ship that was about to depart for Japan when they were prevented from leaving.

Despite the Philippine court having assumed jurisdiction of the case, the four soldiers have never been actually arrested in the truest sense of the word. They remain under comfortable US custody at its Manila embassy in the course of the trial.

Of the four soldiers, three of them denied having had sex with the woman. They said only one actually had sex but that it was consensual. Whatever the truth of the matter is, that is now up to the court to find out and decide.

Without intending to belittle the crime or to minimize the ordeal of the woman, if indeed the alleged rape really took place, the greater concern of Filipinos is not the rape itself but the conduct of US soldiers in the country and the overall attitude of America toward us.

That the US soldiers came to the Philippines under the auspices of the Visiting Forces Agreement should have told a lot on the conduct expected of them during their stay in our country as, as the agreement says, visitors.

Most people, of whatever nationality, are presumed to have a fairly good understanding of what a visitor is and how a visitor is expected to behave in a place he visits. But such presumptions appear to have been lost to the US soldiers, at least in this case.

But then, why blame the US soldiers for feeling they can have their way wherever they may be. That has become the official US attitude not just toward the Philippines, as evidenced by the lopsided provisions in the Visiting Forces Agreement, but to the world in general.

In the war on Iraq, the United States first went through the motions of trying to secure UN approval for an attack, based on evidence that was later proven to be nothing more than a pack of lies.

When the US realized it was getting nowhere with the UN, it went ahead and attacked. What this tells us is that the US will only toe the line if it suits its interests but will just as soon kick that line when it is no longer tenable to do so.

As the most powerful country in the world, the United States believes it can always have its way. For instance, for all its bellyaching about the environment, it has yet to toe the line on greenhouse gases - because it is not in its best business interest to do so.

But that is another issue. In the Visiting Forces Agreement, crafted specifically to allow the US continued access to Philippine soil as forward staging area for its forces despite a constitutional ban on foreign military presence, it is having its cake and eating it too.

Not that the constitutional ban is to be applauded, since it is the most stupid provision to be found in any constitution anywhere. But it is there. And if we have any self-respect left, either we put up or shut up. But no, we needed to have that onerous agreement.

Okay, it is not so onerous on account of the constitutional loopholes. Our interests are too intertwined with that of America its forces may as well be here as a possible deterrent. What makes it vile are the biases. If an s.o.b. is a US s.o.b., it is a good s.o.b.