VFA useless against erring US troops - lawyer

MANILA, Philippines - One of the lawyers of slain transgender Jennifer Laude's family on Tuesday reiterated their call to the Philippine government to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), saying it is useless in going after American soldiers accused of crimes against Filipinos.

Reacting to the statement of Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, lawyer Romel Bagares said that the Aquino administration should rethink its position and junk the VFA.

Cabunoc earlier said that the granting of access to the members of Laude family to the detention facility inside the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, where US Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton is detained, is "beyond" the military's control.

"It just proves what we've been saying all along-- the VFA is useless as far as ensuring the exaction of liability of US servicemen accuse of committing crimes against Filipinos," Bagares said.

Bagares, together with another Laude family lawyer, Ethel Avisado, wrote AFP chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr., asking the military leadership to allow members of the Laude family to see if Pemberton is indeed detained at Camp Aguinaldo.

Pemberton is the principal suspect in the killing of the transgender inside a motel in Subic, Zambales.

"The AFP, if it wishes to, can coordinate with US authorities, through the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), to allow it (access), even with the supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor of Olongapo City.

The Laude family lawyers also have a pending motion before the Olongapo City prosecutors' office to have police lift fingerprints and take DNA samples from Pemberton.