MANILA, Philippines – The cancellation of a large-scale U.S. military exercise due to a dispute over the custody of a U.S. Marine convicted of rape will set back Philippine efforts to modernize its armed forces, the Philippine government said Saturday.
The United States announced Friday it was canceling the annual Balikatan exercise scheduled for February 2007 while Philippine courts review the custody of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith under a bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement.
A spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today that Manila respected Washington’s decision to cancel the maneuvers, which have boosted the Philippine military’s counterterrorism capabilities particularly in the turbulent south where al-Qaida-linked militants operate.
Smith, 21, of St. Louis, was convicted Dec. 4 of rape and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Smith sought a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals against the decision by Judge Benjamin Pozon to detain him at the suburban Makati city jail during his appeal.
Pozon immediately ordered Smith’s detention at a local jail over the objections of his lawyers, who cited a provision in the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement giving U.S. custody of an American serviceman until all judicial proceedings are completed.
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