Protesters demand Philippine custody of US marine linked to murder
Protesters demand Philippine custody of man linked to murder of transgender individual
Dozens of activists burned a mock US flag as they protested at the US embassy in Manila yesterday, demanding that Washington hand over to the Philippines a marine implicated in the killing of a transgender Filipino that the demonstrators labelled a hate crime.
Jeffrey Laude, 26, was found dead, apparently strangled and drowned, in a motel room in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila, shortly after he checked in with a Caucasian man late on Saturday. The foreigner, who escaped, was described by witnesses as a US marine who had met the victim in a bar, police said.
US marine spokesman Colonel Brad Bartelt said a marine was being held on board the USS Peleliu in the Subic Bay free port, about 80km northwest of Manila, in connection with a joint US navy and Philippine police investigation into Laude's death, and he would remain in US custody.
About 3,000 US marines and sailors concluded two weeks of military exercises with Filipino counterparts on Friday and were to leave the Philippines this week.
But Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he was assured by US Pacific commander Admiral Samuel Locklear, who was in Manila for talks with Philippine military officials, that the Peleliu and other navy ships would stay in the Philippines pending an investigation into the killing.
The thorny issue emerged amid a blossoming of security ties between the United States and the Philippines, which have both been vocal critics of China's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Police said that Laude's attacker might have been angered when he discovered in the motel room that Laude was a transgender individual.
Yesterday, about 40 young activists waved red flags and yelled "US troops out now", in a protest that ended with the burning of a mock American flag at the US embassy. Police stopped them from getting close to the heavily fortified seaside compound.
Two protest leaders tearfully demanded that the US military hand over the marine to the Philippine government, adding that he should be in a local jail.
"This is just so abominable. It's one of the worst hate crimes I've seen," said Corky Hope Maranan, a leader of a transgender and lesbian group.
"If he remains in US custody, certainly he can escape from our justice system again. We don't want another Daniel Smith."
Smith was a marine who was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for raping a Filipino woman after a night of drinking in 2005, also at the Subic free port. He spent only three weeks in a Philippine jail before US officials obtained custody, arguing that the Visiting Forces Agreement allowed them to hold Smith until his legal appeal was resolved.
A Philippine appeals court overturned Smith's conviction in 2009, allowing him to leave the country.
