Okinawa rape victim’s mom gets support for daughter's b-day

MANILA, Philippines - The mother of the Filipina alleged rape victim in Okinawa, decided to give her daughter the best birthday gift she could think of: The support of fellow women.

For her 22nd birthday today, June 5, “Hazel’s" mother paid a visit to the office of Gabriela, a women’s rights group, to help trumpet her family's call for justice.

“Hazel"(the alias the victim’s father gave) has been feeling upset and more helpless after Japan’s court recently dropped charges against the US servicemen who allegedly raped her in February 18.

Reports claimed that an official from the Naha district prosecutor's office said there was no sufficient evidence to pin down the US soldier for the rape charge.

“They [Philippine government] should help my daughter and not neglect her just like that," Hazel’s mother told GMANews in Filipino.

Hazel was raped in Okinawa, Japan’s southern prefecture with more than 20,000 US servicemen, just two days after her arrival there from the Philippines.

According to an aunt, she was still able to talk to her niece at around 4 p.m. on Feb 17, a few hours before her ordeal with the American serviceman.

Japanese police reports said that Hazel was invited to eat out by a 20-something US serviceman at around 2 a.m. of February 18, the day the alleged rape incident took place in a hotel. Hazel woke up several hours later, bleeding.

“If they can do something about it, I hope they will help her," Hazel’s mother pleaded to the government.

On Thursday, Hazel’s mother personally visited Gabriela’s office to seek their support for her daughter’s plight. Gabriela had been at the forefront in seeking justice for another Filipina rape victim, "Nicole," two years ago.

“We were hoping for a strong condemnation from the government to show that they were behind the victim," said Emi de Jesus, secretary general of Gabriela.

As a belated birthday gift, the group is readying a series of protests to denounce the rape of the Filipina in Japan’s southern prefecture, which is home to roughly 20,000 US troops.

For his part, Foreign Affairs undersecretary Esteban Conejos asserted the case is far from being closed.

Despite the court’s earlier decision, the government, he said, could still adhere to two options: “One is to pursue court martial proceedings against the US serviceman and the other is filing a petition for the investigation of the finding of the public prosecutor not to file the case on the ground of lack of sufficient evidence."

Hazel is celebrating her birthday in Japan. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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