EDITORIAL - Not a friendship to be proud of

The United States may have submitted Marine corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton to Philippine judicial processes in connection with the murder charge he is facing over the death of a Filipino but it has refused to yield custody of the accused, citing rights supposedly contained in the Visiting Forces Agreements between the two countries.

Whether or not such rights hold water, and whether or not they hold precedence over the larger issue of US-Philippine relations, may take some time and perhaps more trying circumstances to really emerge with more clarity and less ambiguity. What it seems right now, however, is that the United States appears willing to risk higher stakes on one person than the future of its friendship with the Philippines.

Anyway you look at it, it does not augur well for the Philippine position in many things that are part of this package called friendship with the Americans. Again, things may change down the road. But then again, they may not. So where does this supposed friendship with the United States taking the Philippines. From where most Filipinos sit -- nowhere.

If the Philippines thinks that by accommodating the United States on this one case it can parlay for far larger things, then it is grossly mistaken. This vaunted friendship with the United States works only when it favors American interests. When it is Philippine interests that need a little reassuring, where is its American friend.

When it comes to playing global politics, it is appalling how the Philippines can remain so pathetically naive. Does it really think the American definition of friendship means an absolute willingness to come to our aid against foreign enemies, including China? The Philippines keeps harping about US salvation from Japanese hands during World War II. What it fails to see is that it was in the interest of America that the Japanese be kept out of the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

If America truly valued its friendship with the Philippines, it should have submitted Pemberton completely to Philippine jurisdiction as a sign of good faith. Anyway, allowing Philippine custody over Pemberton does not necessarily mean it will end in a conviction. Besides, a Philippine judicial system bearing many similarities with its own should give it enough confidence to trust the system to work.

By refusing to do so, the US not only proves it does not have full confidence in the system, it also shows broad hints of what the Philippines can expect from their supposedly mutual friendship. And what those hints are are that the Philippines can have its way if in doing so it will redound to America's benefit. If not, then better forget it. The US will only look after its own interests. And that is not a friendship to be proud about.