BI orders Pemberton deportation

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has issued a deportation order against US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton even as he is still on trial for the killing of a Filipino transgender last year.

But the BI clarified the deportation order could not be immediately enforced pending clearance from the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74, which is hearing Pemberton’s case.

The Marine is being tried for the murder of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in October last year inside a motel room in Olongapo.

BI spokesperson Elaine Tan said yesterday the bureau wanted Pemberton deported on the ground of “undesirability.” She said the order was contained in a five-page resolution issued last September 16.

“Pemberton would not be deported until we get clearance from the court… We would have to wait for the court’s decision before we could physically deport him,” Tan said.

The murder case is set for promulgation on December 14.

If the court finds Pemberton guilty, he must serve his sentence first before he can be sent back to the United States. But if he is acquitted, then he would be immediately deported, Tan explained.

Tan added that despite the deportation order, the Marine would remain in detention at Camp Aguinaldo and would not be placed under the custody of the BI. 

She said immigration officials have informed the Olongapo court about the deportation order.

The deportation order for an “undesirable” alien was based mainly on a statement from Laude’s friend Mark Clarence “Barbie” Gelviro who, during an October 2014 Senate hearing, pointed to Pemberton as the person who most likely killed the 24-year-old transgender by drowning him in a toilet inside a room at Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City. Gelviro was with Laude and Pemberton before the pair checked into Celzone Lodge.

On October 26 last year, the BI’s Legal Division charged Pemberton with “undesirability” and included his name in its watchlist.

The case was then forwarded to the bureau’s Board of Special Inquiry (BSI) composed of BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison and Associate Commissioners Gilberto Repizo and Abdullah Mangotara.

On November 24 last year, the US Marine filed a motion for self-deportation.

The BSI said there was no doubt Pemberton poses risk to public interest and should be deported.

The BSI said that as stipulated in “Acts or Omissions that Constitute Undesirability of Foreign Nationals, Section 1,” there is a “presumption” that a foreign national is undesirable “if he commits an act constituting a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment of one year or more.”

In Pemberton’s case, he was charged with murder, which is a serious criminal offense punishable with more than a year’s imprisonment.

The BI-BSI explained that since a deportation proceeding is administrative in character, it only requires “substantial evidence” to establish that an alien poses a risk to national security, public safety or national interest.

“Substantial evidence” refers to relevant information that is enough to support a position.

The immigration bureau believes the evidence gathered during the Senate hearing, such as Gelviro’s statement as well as corroborative statement from Celzon Lodge’s cashier Elias Galamos, were enough to justify Pemberton’s deportation.

Galamos testified having seen Pemberton walk out of the room less than an hour after he and Laude checked in.

Immigration officials also cited as basis for the deportation order the finding of probable cause to charge Pemberton with murder and the subsequent issuance of a warrant of arrest against the Marine by Branch 74 of the Olongapo court.

“We find respondent Pemberton, an American national, to be an undesirable alien and order his deportation, subject to the issuance of a clearance from the Regional Trial Court, Branch 74, Olongapo City and other appropriate government agencies,” the BSI said.

Likewise, Pemberton’s offer for self-deportation was denied for lack of merit.

Pemberton was one of the US soldiers conducting a joint drill with Filipino forces under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The killing of Laude triggered public outrage and rekindled calls for the scrapping of the VFA.