Aussie pedophiles may flock to RP if SoVFA OK'd
October 9, 2012 · , Angie M. Rosales, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 00:00
The Philippines has primary jurisdiction over all offenses that fall outside the official duty of Australian soldiers under the proposed Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SoVFA) with the said country.
Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday made this assurance amid concerns raised by some of her colleagues over the grant of Philippine congressional concurrence on the agreement in the light of recent revelations of the “numerous cases of physical and sexual abuse of minors, supposedly committed by members of the Australian armed forces.”
An article that that came out in The New York Times last June 15 said Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the possibility of a high-level public inquiry or convening of a royal commission, a major investigative body occasionally used by some countries of the Commonwealth, to look into sensitive public issues.
“No offender from the visiting forces who commits a crime in the Philippines will escape justice under the SoVFA,” Legarda, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and sponsor of the said treaty, said.
The agreement, she added, has an existing set of clear cut rules governing the criminal jurisdiction of the Philippines over errting Australian soldiers.
“I will be the first one to protest against any such abuses if perpetrated against a Filipino,” the solon even said.
Senators Gregorio Honasan and Joker Arroyo, in separate interviews Monday, urged the executive to exercise caution before having the agreement rushed for plenary approval.
“We should not be rushed into acting on the SoFVA until the Australian government has finished their investigation,” Arroyo said, adding that “prudence dictates that we should wait for the findings of the Australian government.”
He urged his colleagues to “remember, if such sexual acts allegedly committed by Australian servicemen on Australian minors are found to be true after investigation, that too can happen (to) our own minors.”
Indeed, if the report were true, there was reason for lawmakers like him to be wary of approving the ratification of the proposed SoVFA, unless the matter had been clarified, Arroyo added.
“It is unfortunate that allegations of sexual abuse against minors in Australian forces have surfaced,” Legarda said.
The foreign relations panel chair was in the middle of defending the approval of the said agreement when Congress adjourned sine die last June 6. Floor debates for its eventual ratification are expected to resume when Congress re-opens next month.
The provisions of the SoVFA on criminal jurisdiction do not grant offenders any kind of immunity from criminal prosecution for offenses committed in the Philippines, she added.
