Pemberton release: Not so fast

MANILA, Philippines — Homicide convict US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton will remain in detention as the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has held off processing his release papers to give way to an appeal for his continued imprisonment filed by the family of his victim, transgender Jennifer Laude.

“The BuCor will not yet process the release of Pemberton since there is a pending motion for reconsideration (MR) filed in court,” Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said yesterday.

Through lawyers, Laude’s sister Marilou Laude-Mahait filed the eight-page MR.

Olongapo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 74 Judge Roline Ginez Jabalde issued the order, dated Sept. 1, acting on a motion filed by the camp of the 25-year-old Pemberton.

“Pemberton’s release already has a court order, however, (Laude’s camp) filed a motion for reconsideration, that’s why we’re not allowed to release him until it is resolved,” BuCor director Gerald Bantag said in an interview aired over dzBB.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Meñez said “nothing appears final yet” on Pemberton’s case, as it is on appeal.

The Armed Forces said that while it owns the facility where Pemberton is detained, it’s the BuCor that has supervision over the detainee.

“All questions pertinent to his detention and release should be addressed to the court and to the BuCor,” AFP spokesman Lt. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said. The AFP is ready nonetheless to help BuCor enforce any court order, he stressed.

Laude family’s lawyers said Pemberton received high scores for supposed good conduct, despite not being covered by the GCTA law.

The GCTA law allows the release of convicts for good behavior using a formula that deducts days from their sentences.

Pemberton was sentenced to six-10 years in prison for killing Laude on Oct. 11, 2014. He has been detained since then at a special military facility inside Camp Aguinaldo.

Applying GCTA on his case, Pemberton has already exceeded his maximum prison sentence.

The court said in its order that during Pemberton’s preventive suspension, he had served 405 days in prison, and another 1,737 days during his service of sentence, or a total of 2,142 days.

Rommel Bagares, a lawyer for Laude’s family, said Pemberton cannot avail of good conduct benefits as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) covers only places of detention for convicted US servicemen and not good conduct credits.

The Supreme Court in 2015 allowed Pemberton to be kept at Camp Aguinaldo to honor an agreement under VFA.

“The agreement here only was signed with respect to where he will be detained, where he will be serving his sentence,” Bagares said in an interview aired over ANC.

The Olongapo City court’s GCTA computation showed Pemberton has served 2,142 days in detention plus 1,548 days of GCTA grant or a total of 3,690 days or just a few days over 10 years, beyond the maximum penalty for homicide.

The computation, according to Laude’s lawyers, had no basis citing Pemberton’s “very comfortable” situation while detained at Camp Aguinaldo.

“We have rulings in the Supreme Court recognizing that situations in Philippine jails are torturous and he does not get to suffer that and therefore the circumstances contemplated by the GCTA whereby good conduct may be appreciated do not exist in this case,” Bagares added.

“This was a hate crime without any question. He should not qualify under the GCTA rules because heinous crimes are not covered by the rules,” he added.

Under the GCTA law, the BuCor chief gives good conduct credits, but Virginia Suarez, another lawyer for the Laude family, said the camp of Pemberton made its own computation.

“Pemberton made the computation, the BuCor made the computation. And considering that, he still has to be imprisoned or serve a sentence for 10 months. But all these, again, were not considered. What was considered is the computation submitted by Pemberton,” Suarez said in a television interview.

Disbarment case

The Laude family’s lawyers were also mulling ethics or disbarment complaint against Pemberton’s lawyers and the Olongapo judge before the Supreme Court, citing a double violation of their right to due process as they were kept in the dark on the GCTA proceedings for Pemberton.

Suarez said they had been denied access to documents on the matter despite their continuous demand.

“There turned out to be hearings and various other motions without us knowing, not even the Center Law, not even the Laude Family… It’s very easy to send us a notice, it’s so easy to call us, and it’s very easy to send us an email,” Suarez lamented.

Suarez said Pemberton’s lawyers did not mention his bid for early release despite their talks with Laude’s family about a court order for paying P4.5 million in damages that were settled last month.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. called the Olongapo City court order “an instance of judicial overreach.”

“The grant of liberality for convicted felons is an executive function. I think if the BuCor gave a different recommendation, it should have been followed by the local court,” he said.

“It is the executive that will determine their entitlement as to liberality as far as punishment is concerned,” he added.

He also said the Laude case has proven that the VFA is disadvantageous to the country, citing President Duterte’s position.

“He has no personal thoughts on this,” he said, referring to Duterte. “But if you will recall, he has ordered the abrogation of the VFA pursuant to our national interests. The abrogation has been suspended for six months. I think the decision of the President is to abrogate the VFA, this is the real justice for Jennifer Laude because his death is symbolic of the death of sovereignty in the Philippines,” Roque said.

“Well, we have shown that, under the VFA, once an American kills a Filipino, he may only get only five years imprisonment,” he said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he would suggest to Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon that a probe be conducted to determine the validity of Pemberton’s release under GCTA law.

“The question is who made the computation,” Sotto told The Chiefs aired over OneNews/TV5 Channel.

GCTA probe

Sotto said the committee has yet to conclude its investigation of alleged irregularities in GCTA implementation, especially the questionable release of convicts of heinous crimes.

“GCTA investigation is still alive, we haven’t adjourned it yet and as far as I know the Blue Ribbon (investigation) is still there, just hit by COVID-19,” he said.

“Tomorrow I will tell Sen. Gordon to look into the GCTA of the American,” he added.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that what’s upsetting about the court decision was the fact that the victim was a Filipino.

“We do not know what its intricacies are. Apart from the alleged computation done for GCTA, of course, there are underpinnings that are not discussed in public or openly,” said Lacson.

Militant lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives also slammed the court order for Pemberton’s early release.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite both assailed as an “injustice to Filipinos” the decision of an Olongapo City court.

“The Olongapo court granted the early release of a transphobic murderer under GCTA who wasn’t even detained at the New Bilibid Prison but at a relatively lavish detention facility in Camp Aguinaldo. Where is the justice in that? His conduct was never put to test as he was living comfortably in his specially made cell,” Brosas said.

“We call on the concerned court to review its decision to release Pemberton and to immediately table the appeal of Jennifer Laude’s family. We are dismayed that Pemberton was already given special treatment in service of his sentence and now he was released early,” Gaite said.

In a press statement, human rights advocate group Karapatan said releasing Pemberton is “a travesty of justice in the Philippines” and a “vivid example of the lopsidedness towards US interests of the US-PH Visiting Forces Agreement.”

“Just after six years of being given a special treatment in a facility at Camp Aguinaldo, US serviceman Pemberton will be released through GCTA and the VFA. Just six years of detention in exchange for the life of a Filipino,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said.

“We assert that Pemberton must be jailed at the Bilibid prison, where convicted criminals in the Philippines belong. We assert that the Visiting Forces Agreement, which has exacerbated injustice for Jennifer Laude to the greatest extent, must be finally abolished,” LGBT group Bahaghari said in a press statement.- Edu Punay, Romina Cabrera, Elizabeth Marcelo, Pia Lee-Brago, Ding Cervantes, Bebot Sison Jr., Christina Mendez