Next VFA commission exec must toe gov’t line -- Palace
AS THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) prepares a shortlist of candidates for executive director of the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission (VFACom), Malacañang indicated it wants somebody who will toe the government line on issues concerning the agreement.
In his weekly news briefing, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the most important consideration for whoever lands the job would be to “prepare yourself, study the situation very well” and “be ready to take [the] position or stand to show that [the appointee] is okay for such a position.”
The former VFACom executive director, Zosimo Paredes, was fired over the weekend before he could resign over his differences with the government position on the manner with which US Marine Daniel Smith, sentenced to 40 years for raping a Filipina at the Subic Bay Freeport in November 2005, was taken from the Makati City Jail and returned to the US embassy.
Paredes said the government should have waited for the Court of Appeals to rule on Smith’s petition, which the administration supported, for his return to US custody instead of acceding to alleged “bullying” by the American government.
Ermita also said the new VFACom director should know the agreement intimately and be ready to make recommendations on provisions of the pact that may need review.
Earlier, Malacañang said it wants a review of the agreement at a "mutually" agreed time with the US but the Americans replied that such a move was “premature.” By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez - INQUIRER
DFA submits shortlist of names for VFACOM post
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has submitted to President Arroyo a list of candidates to replace Zosimo Paredes as head of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM), ABS-CBN News reported Wednesday.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the person that will replace Paredes should be an expert on the bilateral treaty and familiar with the Subic rape case. The case nearly caused a dent in RP-US ties after a local court refused to turn over custody of a US marine back to the US embassy after his conviction.
Paredes was fired by Malacañang after he criticized Lance Corporal Daniel Smith's transfer from the Makati City Jail to the US embassy last year without a court order.
On December 4, Smith was convicted of raping a woman now known only as "Nicole" inside a moving van at Subic Bay Free Port on the night of November 1 last year.
Three other accused US soldiers – Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier and Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood – were acquitted and immediately sent back to their mother unit in Japan. Carpentier was reportedly demoted after undergoing a court martial proceeding at his base.
In his weekly news briefing, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the most important consideration for whoever lands the job would be to “prepare yourself, study the situation very well” and “be ready to take [the] position or stand to show that [the appointee] is okay for such a position.”
The former VFACom executive director, Zosimo Paredes, was fired over the weekend before he could resign over his differences with the government position on the manner with which US Marine Daniel Smith, sentenced to 40 years for raping a Filipina at the Subic Bay Freeport in November 2005, was taken from the Makati City Jail and returned to the US embassy.
Paredes said the government should have waited for the Court of Appeals to rule on Smith’s petition, which the administration supported, for his return to US custody instead of acceding to alleged “bullying” by the American government.
Ermita also said the new VFACom director should know the agreement intimately and be ready to make recommendations on provisions of the pact that may need review.
Earlier, Malacañang said it wants a review of the agreement at a "mutually" agreed time with the US but the Americans replied that such a move was “premature.” By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez - INQUIRER
DFA submits shortlist of names for VFACOM post
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has submitted to President Arroyo a list of candidates to replace Zosimo Paredes as head of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM), ABS-CBN News reported Wednesday.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the person that will replace Paredes should be an expert on the bilateral treaty and familiar with the Subic rape case. The case nearly caused a dent in RP-US ties after a local court refused to turn over custody of a US marine back to the US embassy after his conviction.
Paredes was fired by Malacañang after he criticized Lance Corporal Daniel Smith's transfer from the Makati City Jail to the US embassy last year without a court order.
On December 4, Smith was convicted of raping a woman now known only as "Nicole" inside a moving van at Subic Bay Free Port on the night of November 1 last year.
Three other accused US soldiers – Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier and Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood – were acquitted and immediately sent back to their mother unit in Japan. Carpentier was reportedly demoted after undergoing a court martial proceeding at his base.
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
1:30 PM
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