EDITORIAL - The other US Marine

When the shoe is on the other foot, how do we behave? The question deserves asking in the case of another US Marine. George Anikow died after being beaten and stabbed in the neck during an altercation in November 2012 with a group trying to enter Bel-Air Village in Makati where the US Marine lived with his wife.

US Ambassador Philip Goldberg reminded the public the other day about the case in which none of the four accused has served time in prison after conviction. Galicano Datu and Crispin de la Paz were convicted of homicide – downgraded from murder – by Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 59.

Following their arrest and two months in jail, Datu and De la Paz were allowed to post bail of P300,000 each together with their co-accused Osric Cabrera and Juan Alfonso Abastillas. Cabrera and Abastillas were acquitted. Dumayas allowed Datu and De la Paz to be placed under probation instead of serving time behind bars. An appeal of the ruling was dismissed, leading Goldberg to lament that the killing would go largely unpunished.

The only positive aspect in the case is that it was resolved with unusual speed. Reports said the outcome of the case deeply disappointed Anikow’s family. Reaction in this country would surely be more than disappointment if a similar verdict is reached when the victim is a Filipino and the defendants are foreigners.

The Philippine judicial system, notorious for its leisurely pace, inefficiency and even corruption, is under close scrutiny in the case involving the killing of a Filipino transgender by a US Marine in Olongapo City. Both sides are working to ensure that justice is rendered fairly, based on facts and solid evidence. The same principles must be applied in all cases, regardless of race, citizenship or creed.