THE LAST WORD ON DANIEL SMITH

By Bernie Lopez

This article is especially for the attention of Gabriela which supported Nicole, US Ambassador Kristie Kenny, the US government, and the American people. When the Supreme Court dismissed the case of rape against Daniel Smith last May 2009, Filipinos were incensed and Americans were relieved. Nicole and her supporters naturally felt there was no longer any justice when it came to superpowers breathing down the necks of small countries.

Rape is defined in the law as sex without consent. The element of force is essential to rape. Nicole willingly entered the lion’s den. She knew she was playing with fire. But she was daring and adventurous. She consented. There was in truth no rape, but there was also no justice beyond the rape charge. There is something deeper which many failed to see through the maze of geopolitics. Justice can sometimes be lost in the conflict of powerful forces, namely the Filipino public and the American armed forces.

The court had a dilemma. If it decided in Nicole’s favor, it knew it would be wrong. No rape meant no rape in the eyes of the law, no matter how many times you read the bible-thick court transcript. If the court decided in Daniel’s favor, which it did, it meant triggering an avalanche of protests and anger from Filipinos asking for blood. It meant being unpopular and getting heavy media flak. The court could even be accused of subservience to the powerful Americans. The court knew this but had to make a decision based on law, not on popularity or geopolitics.

Daniel, as performer, and his three co-accused, as voyeurs, after they enjoyed the night with the consenting Nicole, violently threw her, without her underwear, to the ground in the street outside. This showed how these Americans looked down not just on Nicole, not just on Filipino women, but for that matter women in general, namely as pure dirt. It was a form of sadism induced by alcohol. A protester said, “There was no rape, true, pero binaboy nila si Nicole (they treated her like a pig, literally)”. In Filipino culture, ‘piggery’ is debauchery. This insult is a crime not just against Nicole but all Filipinos, against their dignity. The heartless and cruel treatment after enjoying themselves with Nicole is a form of perversion, which is anathema in Filipino culture. 

Perhaps in America, this is nothing, but for Filipinos there is even a tint of racism. That Daniel and company committed ‘piggery’ is evident from the court transcript beyond doubt, and here is where justice is lost. True, they can go scot-free on rape charges but they are still guilty of ‘piggery’. In their anger, Nicole and her lawyers failed to see that the charge was not supposed to be rape but ‘piggery’ which would have stuck like glue.

In fact, it is perhaps not too late to file a new case on that charge. Gabriela can help file a new case in the very same court. Even if they are now in the safety of the motherland, even if they do not serve any sentence, there is moral victory in pursuing justice in rescuing the name of Nicole and the Filipino people, if they are found guilty of ‘piggery’ or whatever the legal term is for that. It will also put the US government and armed forces on the spot, that they have double morale standards, if they do not hand over the guilty if the new case rules in Nicole’s favor. Suing for morale damages of $1 million on a celebrated case in the international media should be sufficient. The US Armed Forces can easily afford that.

Double standards has been the practice of American foreign policy for decades. It is the mindset of a superpower, that in their superiority, crimes of non-Americans against Americans have to be dealt with with total justice and crimes of Americans against non-Americans can be forgiven or forgotten. This was true of the rape case against an American soldier in Okinawa which triggered massive protest and a human barricade at the US naval base there. This was true of the Mai Lai village massacre by American soldiers during the Vietnam war. After years, the military court absolved them for killing innocent civilians on a massive scale, and remain scot-free to this day. This was true of the US Colonel assassinated by the NPA. They did not sleep until they got the assassins but they did not sleep until Daniel went scot-free.

Guantanamo is the supreme example of this double standards. America’s sacred regard for freedom, justice, and due process applies only to Americans. They tortured and detained suspects without trial, which bothered many Americans with some conscience left. They transgressed their own jurisprudence and due process in the name of ‘national security’, whether they are just suspects or proven terrorists. Their sacred regard for democracy applies only to Americans and not to non-Americans.

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