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Enough already

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

03/20/2009

Enough already with the play-acting.

It is fairly clear that Suzette Nicolas, who earlier claimed to be a rape victim, sold out in exchange for a permanent stay in the United States, with a dollar nestegg, for certain.

It is also just as clear that the Gloria government and even the US government had a hand in getting Nicolas to absolve US Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith.

It is also almost certain that the case against Smith will be junked and for that, he will walk.

All that argument from Nicolas’ lawyer, as well as other “legal experts” claiming that her affidavit was not a recantation, or that this would not have any effect on the case, is all hot legal air.

So what if the lawyers of Smith prepared the affidavit for Nicolas? So what if she signed different documents all in one day? That is certainly not a crime. If she didn’t want to sign it, on a matter of principle, she wouldn’t have signed any documents, whether they were prepared by her lawyer or by Smith’s lawyers.

And she wouldn’t just have signed those documents, whether in one day or on different dates if there was no prior understanding of a settlement. Neither, it should be stressed, could she have left so easily and fast for the US if there was no prior arrangement for that settlement. She sold out, that’s the bottom line.

Even that claim of the Justice chief that Suzette Nicolas is “criminally liable” for “recanting” her testimony and exonerating Smith is all play-acting. The Justice chief also says that the DoJ is not filing a case in court against Nicolas.

So why come up with the claim that she is criminally liable?

In this country, affidavits are dime a dozen, just as recantations are, but those who recant are never charged with perjury, especially when the recantation favors the incumbent government.

Still, if, as claimed by Gonzalez, that Nicolas has committed a crime in recanting and absolving Smith, why then does he not charge her and move to have Nicolas extradited? For that matter, why doesn’t he want to file a case against her in court?

The answer is simple. All that noise is play-acting, for these Gloria aides to appear “shocked” over Nicolas’ recantation.

Yet how can they be “shocked” when this was all obviously planned to resolve the problem of Philippine custodial rights over Smith, which the Gloria government just as obviously does not want to have, lest Gloria gets the all-out ire of Uncle Sam.

From the start, it was clear that the Gloria government did not want to get the custody of Smith, which was why he was spirited away from his cell in the Makati City Jail in the dead of the night.

Neither did the Gloria administration fight tooth and nail to uphold Philippine sovereignty, as even the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) entered into an agreement that was to the interest of the US government.

Even as the Supreme Court ruled that the Philippine authorities must have custodial rights over Smith and that the DFA-US Embassy agreement was null and void, Malacañang latched on to the “status quo” portion of the SC until a new agreement to be threshed out between the two governments on which Philippine-controlled detention facility Smith would be detained is forged.

But as the status quo could not remain for long, since the case against Smith could go on forever on appeal, there was that urgent need then for Gloria, who sucks up to America and Barack Obama, to get this custody of Smith issue settled and fast.

And so came the absolution of Smith from Suzette Nicolas and her stay in the US.

Did the US play a role in this? Only a moron would say it didn’t. She couldn’t have just left for the US for a permanent stay if it had no role in this. Not even Gloria can provide Nicolas that immigrant visa, even if Gloria can supply the bribe money — and certainly not just in the amount of P100,000 — for Suzette to pack up and leave for the US.

Only a dumbo can’t see through this behind the scenes move from both governments to resolve the sensitive issue of custodial rights.

So enough already. Stop insulting the Filipino intelligence. The deal is as clear as day.