Pemberton leaves Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Six years after killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude during a sexual encounter in Olongapo, US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton left the country yesterday.

Pemberton, who had been confined at the Joint United States Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) facility inside Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City since Oct. 22, 2014 or short of six years, was finally allowed to leave the country at 9:14 a.m. yesterday.

Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval announced that the 25-year-old Pemberton was escorted by BI personnel along with representatives from the US embassy, and boarded a US military plane bound for his home country.

“Pemberton has successfully been deported; military plane left at exactly 9:14 this morning,” Sandoval said.

She noted that since Pemberton was transferred from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to the custody of the BI at noon last Friday, the US serviceman “did not talk much during the entire procedure.”

“He was very calm and very serious. I just do not know if that is his character,” Sandoval said.

In previous interviews, Pemberton’s lawyer Rowena Flores had described him to be “a man of very few words.”

Pemberton’s BI escorts, who were awake at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. yesterday, noticed when they entered his quarters that the American serviceman was also already awake and ready to leave. They did not see him carry any big luggage when he left the facility, which was his home for almost six years.

From his detention cell at Camp Aguinaldo, Pemberton boarded the BI vehicle and was escorted by the US military and US embassy personnel in Manila to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Pemberton wore a face mask and was in handcuffs from the time he left the JUSMAG facility until he arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3. It was only as he was about to board the C-130 US military plane with tail number 535 parked at the old Balagbag Airport at the NAIA complex that the BI escorts removed his handcuffs and he was accompanied by a US military officer inside the aircraft.

Before he was deported, Pemberton underwent regular processing and booking procedures, and was required to secure clearances from the appropriate offices as well as to present a travel document and outbound travel arrangements.

In a statement sent to the media, Flores said her client expressed gratitude to Duterte for giving him absolute pardon. He also regretted causing pain to the Laude family.

“Mr. Pemberton wishes to express his deepest gratitude to President Duterte for granting him an absolute pardon. He is extremely grateful for this act of compassion,” Flores said.

“To the family of Ms. Jennifer Laude, he extends his most sincere sympathy for the pain he caused. In the years he spent in confinement, he spent much more contemplating the many errors in his ways regarding the night of Oct. 11, 2014. He wishes he had the words to express the depth of his sorrow and regret,” she added.

Duterte granted Pemberton absolute pardon last Sept. 7 after Olongapo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 74 Presiding Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde ordered his release last Sept. 1, as the convict had already served his maximum jail term under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) credits.

The GCTA law or Republic Act 10592 of the Revised Penal Code as amended was signed on May 29, 2013 by then president Benigno Aquino III.

Pemberton, now 25 years old, was convicted when he was only 19.

Duterte shocked the LGBTQ community after he announced on live television the absolute pardon he would grant to free Pemberton, who was sentenced in December 2015 to a prison term of six to 12 years for homicide, a sentence later reduced to 10 years.

Pemberton and Laude, then 26, met in a nightclub outside Subic Bay, a former US naval base, in October 2014, when he was in the Philippines for joint military exercises.

Closed-circuit television video presented during the trial showed the two entering a hotel together, and Pemberton was seen leaving alone. A hotel worker found Laude dead, her head slumped over a toilet with a broken neck.

Pemberton, an anti-tank missile operator from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of the thousands of Americans who have participated in exercises under the US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the legal framework for the temporary visits of US Armed Forces.

Duterte ended the allies’ agreement earlier this year, but later backtracked and lifted the termination.

In a public address that aired on Monday last week, the President defended his decision to pardon Pemberton, asserting that the latter “should be allowed the good character presumption” because he had behaved well behind bars.

“If there is a time when you are called upon to be fair, be fair,” Duterte said.

‘Pemberton fulfilled his sentence’

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Manila yesterday said Pemberton had fulfilled his sentence as ordered by Philippine courts.

The embassy noted that “all legal proceedings in the case took place under Philippine jurisdiction and law.”

“Lance Cpl. Pemberton fulfilled his sentence as ordered by Philippine courts and he departed the Philippines on Sept. 13,” the embassy said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday said there was no “exchange” in the absolute pardon granted by the President to Pemberton.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said Duterte had the “higher national interest” in mind when he made the decision.

Roque expressed belief that the pardon to Pemberton is part of the President’s intent that the Philippines can get access to the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines.

US President Donald Trump had earlier said a vaccine for COVID-19 would be ready in the US by Nov. 1.

Locsin insisted that the US did not request Duterte to pardon Pemberton, and that even outgoing US Ambassador Sung Kim was “surprised” by the decision.

Locsin was the first to announce last Monday through Twitter Duterte’s granting of absolute pardon to Pemberton.

Stricter rules

Meanwhile, Pemberton’s case will trigger the implementation of stricter rules whenever American soldiers visit the country to participate in joint military exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), according to the Department of National Defense.

DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong said there are lessons learned that would improve the conduct of such activities in the future.

“Although we have not had any exercises in the Philippines since the COVID-19 pandemic affected our country, we have engaged our American counterparts in frank discussions regarding future incidents involving visiting military personnel,” Andolong told reporters yesterday.

“Both sides are now more circumspect and, as a result, stricter guidelines will be crafted and implemented in the conduct of joint exercises, if there will be any and if the termination of the VFA remains suspended,” he said.

For AFP spokesman and commander for education, training and doctrine command Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, however, the incident that involved Pemberton is an isolated case.

“That does not embody the totality or the intent of training with our American counterparts or with the armed forces of other countries for that matter,” Arevalo said in a statement.

He assured the public that in every iteration of the training, stringent measures are put in place and strict regulations are in force to guide the conduct of individual participants or of the entire contingent. – Rudy Santos, Pia Lee-Brago, Michael Punongbayan, Elizabeth Marcelo