Smith back at US Embassy

By Ronron
April 26, 2007

Convicted rapist US Lance Corporal Daniel Smith is back on Thursday afternoon at the US Embassy in Manila premises after undergoing medical treatment at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa City.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Marius Corpus, who heads a five-man government team to monitor the condition of Smith while under US custody, said he received a call from the US Embassy Security Officer past 3pm yesterday, informing him that Smith, 21, had been returned to his detention cell.

“He was already back at the US Embassy but the US requested to keep his medical condition private and confidential,” Corpus said of the young Marine soldier who was found guilty of raping a Filipino woman on November 1, 2005 at the Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales province.

Reports from other media that quoted anonymous source said Smith underwent surgical operations for the removal of kidney stones.

Like Corpus, US Embassy Deputy Press Attache Stacy Mactaggert said in an email: “For privacy reason, the US Embassy doesn’t comment on the personal health concerns of an American citizen.”

When Smith was first taken to Makati Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon at around 4 o’clock, Corpus said he was suffering from abdominal pain.

Shortly before 9pm of the same day, Smith was seen leaving the Makati Medical Center, heading for another hospital, which Corpus confirmed only yesterday as the Asian Hospital.

Corpus explained that upon the request of the US Embassy, he could not disclose the second hospital where Smith was brought “for security reasons and for the serenity and welfare of other patients in the hospital.”

He assured that the government will continue to monitor the condition of Smith at the embassy to ensure that he is not given special treatment.

Corpus said the latest condition of Smith was deemed an “emergency,” so he cannot disapprove it.

Smith was brought to the US Embassy last December 29, 2006 after the Philippine executive branch acceded to the US government’s request to take Smith under their custody while awaiting for the final decision of the Court of Appeals on his guilty verdict handed by a Makati City Regional Trial Court on December 4th of the same year.

The rationale behind the transfer was taken from the Visiting Forces Agreement of the Philippines and the US, which governs the criminal liabilities of American forces in the country./DMS