May 7, 2008

Asylum proceedings ordered for rape victim

Julia Cheever / Bay City News

A federal appeals court ruled in San Francisco on Tuesday that a Millbrae woman who was raped in the Philippines is entitled to apply for asylum because her father was a World War II veteran.

Rosalina Silaya, 39, who is now a health care worker in Millbrae, says she was kidnapped and repeatedly raped and abused over three days in 1982 by soldiers from the New People's Army, a violent revolutionary group opposed to the Philippine government.

Silaya's father had served in World War II under General Douglas MacArthur.

At the time of the assault, Silaya was 23 and had been living in Manila with a sister for her protection, but had come home for a visit to her parents in a small town.

She said the men from the New People's Army told her they knew about her father and kidnapped her from the family home after overpowering her parents. She said the men repeatedly raped and hit her over the next three days, poured hot liquid on her, burned her and left her hanging upside down after allegedly telling her they were doing so that she "will learn her lesson."

Silaya came to the United States in 1985 to work as a nanny and applied for asylum in 1991, but during years of proceedings was turned down by an immigration judge and the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.

In Tuesday's decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned those rulings and sent the case back to the immigration board for further proceedings.

A three-judge panel said the evidence showed the rape was not random but was carried out because the attackers attributed pro-government political views to Silaya as a result of her father's military service.

Circuit Judge Stephen Trott wrote, "The facts of this case compel a conclusion that members of the New People's Army kidnapped, raped and abused Rosalina because her father was a World War II veteran."

The court ordered the board to consider granting asylum on either of two grounds - either because of fear of future persecution or under a doctrine known as humanitarian asylum.

Humanitarian asylum can be granted when a person has suffered "atrocious forms of persecution" in the past, even when there is no reason to fear future attacks.

Stacy Tolchin, a lawyer for Silaya, said, "This is the sort of case humanitarian asylum was created for. No person who has suffered such past abuse should be required to go back to the country where it happened."

As a result of the rape, Silaya became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, who was raised by Silaya's sister in Manila, the court said.