Justice, what Justice?

The title summarises what is going through the mind of just about every American living here in the Philippines, including that of the US Ambassador, Philip Goldberg.

The upset has been caused by a ruling in the trial of four young men who were accused of the murder of George Anikow, a former US Marine married to an Embassy diplomat in an upscale Makati subdivision in November 2012. Despite the fact that the incident was caught on CCTV and there was a live witness (the duty security guard), two of the defendants were acquitted and the remaining two "sentenced" to two years' probation. According to the Ambassador, there is no appeal against the ridiculous sentence: "Two of the suspects were not convicted of any crime and two were convicted of homicide and given probation. Nobody has served a day for that brutal crime", said the Ambassador.

To say that American expats are furious is an understatement. The four defendants all came from rich and powerful families and, following this verdict, such people are seemingly untouchable.

This case has been completely ignored by the Philippine Press and we would not know of the outcome were it not for the American Ambassador being interviewed by ANC (the English language news service of ABS-CBN). That's because it was a foreigner allegedly murdered by Filipinos. Compare and contrast to the very real circus that will be for Pemberton's trial for the alleged murder of Laude, a Bakla. There'll be daily court reports and op-eds by those who've already decided that Pemberton is guilty.

This is a major kick in the teeth to all Americans and especially those in the armed forces sent here to provide security by bolstering the country's defences; it is also a reminder to all resident foreigners that they will not be treated fairly under the law. I suggest we all leave immediately and allow this country to be annexed by China.

Surprised???

Filipinos expected to be grateful of occupation????

Your'd be expecting Filipinos to be kissing the feet of all foreigners next!

Good idea for any foreigners with such thoughts to leave the Philippines

Money talks, you can literally get away with murder if you are from the wealthy classes in the Philippines, this case underlines that.

The family must be gutted.

No, I am not surprised. Philippine judicial history is littered with similar injustices including that of Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga, a citizen of both Spain and the Philippines, who was wrongly convicted for the kidnap, rape and murder of the Chiong sisters in 1997 and was sentenced to death. He is currently in a Spanish jail with no hope of release. And not forgetting, of course, Kevin and Charlene Taylor. Furthermore I work for the defence team on a case concerning the kidnapping and murder of a six year old girl in Cebu; I have a good insight into the workings (or not) of the justice system here.

"Grateful of occupation"? This present case has nothing whatsoever to do with the Philippines being a former American colony, nor does the presence of US forces in the country have anything to do with an "occupation" - unless you're a nationalist.

I agree, Tim. Murder is a non-bailable offence in this country and when the accused thugs were released on bail in February, the writing was on the wall concerning the outcome. Aquino promised the US government complete transparency in this case and that not only would justice be done, it would be seen to be done. That undertaking went by the wayside.

You know, it amazes me how thick skinned World leaders like Aquino are, Aquino should hang his head in shame, are they so removed from the truth in their political lives that they cannot see right from wrong?

Its not just in the Philippines that so many injustices are ignored, I think we can look closer to home too.

I was broadly supportive of Aquino and his government until we all witnessed his government's response to the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda - and that includes Cebu Customs who would not release any vehicles donated by HMG until duty and taxes were paid (amounting to 150% of value). Now the best I can say about him and Mar Roxas is that they are possibly the least corrupt politicians of this government.

Your statement gave the impression that the Philippines should be indebted to Americas presence.

America like any other country has only vested interests for itself.

Indebted? Possibly not but the Philippines should be grateful for US involvement. World leaders aren't exactly queueing-up to help this country should a shooting war with the Chinese come about, the US is the only game in town. Unless they have been exposed to western culture, gratitude towards others is an alien concept for the vast majority of Filipinos - and most especially their President who has no excuse.

America is about to have its nose rubbed even more in the brown and smelly. Pemberton's (show) trial will soon be underway and I can quite confidently predict that the witnesses will lie resulting in him being found guilty and given the maximum sentence the law provides: 40 years imprisonment. There have been calls for him to receive the death penalty. Unlike Ankow's murderers' trial, Pemberton's will be fully reported in the press with much negative (anti-American) sentiment being expressed by commentating nationalist politicians and their acolyte scribblers. It hasn't escaped the attention of Subic's Mayor that since Pemberton's arrest, several US warships due to call in at the port have cancelled their visits and consequently no US Dollars being spent by their crews in bars and shops in the freeport.

Shooting war with China?
Not needed since American economy is reliant on borrowing from China to buy goods from China and raw materials that china has bought.
Win - Win for China.

It gives with interest to enable its own goods to be bought.

How many items in today's world is partly or entirely made in china?

Ahh yes Americas past interest in the Philippines in the 2nd world war.
The reluctance to give assistance when needed that left many American and Filipino (and other nationals) for dead. At least eventually did return, so all is well, really?

I am not anti-American and yes if it wasn't for America the world could well be different today.
But American intervention was due to provocation, not a desire to be the savior!

So why did you ignore the point of this thread and turn it into a bigoted anti American rant?

Back on track bro, this thread is about failed justice and corruption in the wonderful Philippines.

The "shooting war" - if there is one - will between China and the Philippines; the presence of US forces in and around our shores is intended to prevent that from happening - and if it does, to help protect the Philippines. The US has mutual defence agreements with a number of countries in the region and none of them is China.

American interest in the Philippines precedes the World War 2 (Pacific Theatre) by some forty-four years and ended in 1948 after which the US leased bases just outside Angeles and Olongapo cities until June 1991. It was the combination of the aftermath of Mt Pinatubo's eruption and Philippine greed that ended the permanent presence by US forces.

Regardless of what anyone says, George Anikow, who was a highly decorated US Marine officer, did not deserve to die for simply repeating the subdivision guard's request. His assailants should not have even been there; they did not live in that subdivision and the gates were locked as they always were between 1 and 5am. The fact that he was killed by four thugs who have evaded justice purely by dint of their wealth and position simply makes this tragedy that much worse. Laura, his widow, and their three children must be gutted.



Despite your claim to the contrary, your posts are tinged with anti-American sentiment. If you were living here, you might be rather relieved that a few thousand young Americans are prepared to fight to protect your country of residence.

In the light of the verdicts and sentencing in the George Anikow murder case, the family and friends of the late Daniel Perry together with the Scottish authorities must be wondering if the cyber-scammers who caused 17 year old Daniel to take his life will be punished for their crimes.

Daniel, from Dunfermline, was a victim of extortion by a Filipino gang after he had been coerced into taking part in an explicit Skype chat in July 2013. The gang had videoed the chat and threatened to make it public unless he paid them. One of the blackmailers sent Daniel a message which said "I will make you suffer". Apparently Daniel begged them not to release the video to which the gang reportedly replied "Commit suicide now" and then followed that up with "Are you dead yet?". Daniel then took his life by jumping off the Forth Road Bridge.

Police Scotland, Interpol and the Philippine National Police mounted a joint operation, "Operation Strikeback", in May and arrested some 58 Manila residents suspected of involvement in online extortion. Three of them have been exposed and identified by a BBC investigation as being directly involved in Daniel's case: Jomar Palacio, 23 and from Manila, Archie Tolin, 20, also from Manila and Vincent Bravo, 22, who works as a waiter in a strip club south of Manila. All three suspects are currently on bail.

The Scottish Authorities want to extradite the trio to face trial in a Sheriff's Court but face two problems. Firstly, although both the Philippines and United Kingdom have signed Extradition Treaties, neither country has had the Treaty ratified by its legislature and therefore there is no Extradition Treaty in force. This means that the Fiscal would have to make an "ad-hoc" application via the Foreign Office to the Philippine Department of Justice whose Secretary De Lima may well reject it. The other hurdle is that the Philippine authorities are claiming jurisdiction. Given that this is a crime that effectively took place in a far-off country thousands of miles away, has no adverse impact on any Filipino, the increasingly heavy workload on the Courts and the peculiarities of Philippine Criminal Jurisprudence, it is entirely possible that those suspects will never be tried and the matter quietly swept under the carpet.

The culprits as good as pushed Daniel off the bridge and should be brought before a British court, very sad case indeed.