The United States has demanded interim custody of a US marine sentenced to 40 years in jail for raping a Filipina woman, the Philippines foreign department said. The US embassy in Manila filed a diplomatic note invoking the right of the US military authorities to exercise custody of the marine in keeping with the provisions of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries.
The Americans were told that custody of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith may only be transferred with the court's permission.
The Philippine government is now working on the matter to fulfill its treaty obligations, the department said in a written statement.
Smith was sentenced to 40 years in Philippine prison by a lower court in Manila on Monday and remanded to a local jail after he was found guilty of raping a 22 year-old woman he had met at a bar at the former US naval base of Subic Bay north of Manila 13 months ago.
Three other US marines Lance Corporals, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, were acquitted.
The embassy invoked a provision in the agreement that states that "custody of any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with United States military authorities, if they so request from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings."
