Pemberton To Apologize To Laude Family; To Be Blacklisted By The Bureau Of Immigration

US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was recently granted absolute pardon by President Duterte for killing transgender woman Jennifer Laude six years ago, will apologize to his victim’s family, his lawyer has said.

“He will push through with it. He will write a letter of apology,” Rowena Garcia-Flores said in an interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News/TV 5 on Tuesday night, Sept. 8.

Flores stressed that her client had been wanting to apologize to the family of Laude.

“I have no power to force him to write a letter (of apology),” she said, denying the claim of Virginia Suarez, lawyer of the Laude family, that she was just forcing Pemberton to issue an apology.

But Suarez expressed belief that Pemberton should have apologized six years ago.

“I don’t see any sincerity in the apology,” Suarez told The Chiefs in the same episode.

Suarez maintained that Pemberton was afforded so many privileges not given to Filipino inmates.

In a television interview on Wednesday, Sept. 9, Flores said they are awaiting two important documents for her client’s return to the United States: a letter from the Office of the President formally granting the pardon, and a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation stating he has no pending case in the Philippines.

“We are hoping he could leave the country on Friday, (Sept. 11), ” Flores said.

She added her client would like to finish college upon his return to the United States.

“He would like to take up philosophy,” she replied when asked what course Pemberton wanted to pursue. She said she urged him to take up law.

Pemberton killed Laude in a hotel outside a former US naval base in Subic Bay in October 2014, after he discovered during sex that she was not a real woman.

To be blacklisted

While Duterte’s absolute pardon allows Pemberton to be freed, the American will be blacklisted from entering the Philippines again for being an undesirable alien.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) acting spokesman Melvin Mabulac noted that Pemberton’s pardon involved only the penalty and would not erase the crime committed, thus the violation involving moral turpitude remains.

“‘Pag makaalis na siya (Pemberton) sa Pilipinas, makakasama sa list ng mga blacklisted foreign nationals, alinsunod sa Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 dahil may conviction of moral turpitude,” Mabulac said.

“Na-pardon siya for the penalty naman, hindi naman ’yung ginawang krimen, so pasok pa rin siya sa bawal na pumasok na mga dayuhan na may crime, convicted of moral turpitude, so pasok siya sa system,” he added.

Mabulac said there was a deportation order issued against Pemberton on Sept. 16, 2015 for his undesirable behavior, but it was not implemented after he was convicted of homicide the same year.

But Mabulac clarified that they would still wait for directives from Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra as far as Pemberton’s immigration status is concerned. Guevarra had said there was no need to deport Pemberton as the judge who ordered his release could simply lift any hold-departure order against him.

The BI is an attached agency of the DOJ.

Some legal quarters also say that an absolute pardon allows Pemberton to return to the Philippines if he wants.

Mabulac said they have not yet received an order as far as the departure of Pemberton is concerned. But the BI has written to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) asking that Pemberton be turned over to the immigration bureau for the processing of his departure.

The departure process is still unclear, however, because Pemberton’s camp may invoke the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries. There are reports that he will fly out of the country on a US military aircraft.

Earlier, Guevarra said there was no need for deportation proceedings for Pemberton. Instead the court can lift  a hold departure order, if any was issued, and the Bureau of Immigration will simply let Pemberton depart.

“Since he is a US military personnel, there may be a different mode of transporting him out of the country,” Guevarra noted.

The BuCor announced that it was already conducting preparations for the release of Pemberton.

BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said while Pemberton’s release would be “expedited,” the bureau would stick to procedures normally followed for the release of prisoners, especially those granted pardon. He also said there would be no special treatment for the US serviceman.

Pemberton’s fresh fingerprints, mug shots have been taken. He had also been tested for coronavirus disease 2019.

Pardon justified

Administration officials continued to defend Duterte’s decision to grant absolute pardon to Pemberton.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said on Wednesday that Duterte has the prerogative to grant absolute pardon whether to a Filipino or any foreigner under the Constitution. This makes his act lawful, Panelo stressed.

Duterte has pardoned a total of 139 individuals since he assumed office in 2016, Panelo and Justice Secretary Guevarra disclosed.

“First of all, the absolute pardon is in the Constitution. That’s the prerogative of the President, to extend mercy or pardon to a person in prison who has met the qualifications,” Panelo said over state-run PTV-4.

“Number two, it is not true that Filipino (offenders) are locked up while the foreigners go free. That’s not true because you will see that the President has granted pardon to 139, including four foreigners and 135 Filipinos since he assumed office,” Panelo added.

Panelo agreed with Duterte’s statement on Monday, Sept. 7, that Pemberton was unfairly treated in the country.

Critics, including Vice President Leni Robredo and human rights groups, have cried foul over the grant of absolute pardon.

Although Panelo did not name names, he took a swipe at critics whom he said have always been attacking the President.

“They are mistaken here.  What are they complaining about? Why is he being released immediately? Because the President feels we have been unfair to Pemberton,” Panelo said.

“Because we have what we call as good conduct, which provides the regulations.  They say he was not entitled (to good conduct credits). But the law is clear: if you are detained while waiting for conviction, the number of days you are detained will be counted in the computation of penalty,” Panelo added.

Since the maximum penalty slapped on Pemberton is 10 years, Panelo said the detention time is short of 10 months if the good conduct and preventive suspension were not given consideration.

“The President pointed out his time served while (detained) at Camp Aguinaldo. There were no complaints that he violated any regulation, nor were there reports that he was into drug use or involved in smuggling prohibited materials such as pornographic materials,” Panelo argued.

The other day, Robredo questioned Duterte’s decision and asked: “Patas at makatarungan ba ang naging desisyong ito? Libo-libo ang nakakulong pa rin dahil walang pambayad sa abugado (Was this decision equitable and just? Thousands are still incarcerated because they have no money to pay for a lawyer).”

Robredo said so many Filipinos accused of lighter crimes are not given attention or this kind of privilege. She said this is “just one case out of many that proves the bias in favor of the powerful that we see in our government.”

But Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Pemberton was not powerful.

“Everyone had ditched him and I mean everyone. No one even asked about him from his side. Won’t argue more than that. But this is not speaking truth to power. He’ll go home to no welcome except possibly among his poor own. The reality of an uneven society,” Locsin tweeted.

In a television interview, Guevarra said that of the 139 executive pardons granted by Duterte, two included “prisoner swaps” arranged with the United Arab Emirates.

Guevarra explained that under the VFA, Pemberton was incarcerated alone inside a military facility at Camp Aguinaldo and guarded by military personnel, with prison custodians from the BuCor, which has jurisdiction over the facility, “in the periphery.”

“In other words, the arrangement was, nobody can actually witness or observe Pemberton’s conduct or behavior while he is inside his cell. So for that reason, the President is saying, how do we know really, why should we deprive him of good conduct time allowance (GCTA) simply for the reason that nobody had observed him? It was the situation he found himself in, and it was not his fault that he ended up in that kind of arrangement because of the VFA,” Guevarra said.

There was also no complaint that Pemberton misbehaved, Guevarra noted.

The DOJ chief pointed out that there have been Filipino prisoners who have benefited from the GCTA.

Citing information provided by the BuCor, Guevarra said that since the revision of the GCTA’s implementing rules and regulations or IRR in September last year, the bureau has so far processed the GCTAs for 90 or 91 prisoners.

The GCTA was suspended last year after it was reported that former Calauan, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was convicted of murder and rape, would be eligible for a reduction of prison sentence on account of his good behavior and could be freed under the GCTA.

In the TV interview, Guevarra said that while he was surprised when the President informed him about the pardon to be given, he believed Duterte “had some basis in his own mind” for the move and it was not “whimsical or capricious.”

When asked if anyone had discussed with the President the implications of the absolute pardon, Guevarra said he informed Duterte that government prosecutors had filed a motion for reconsideration before the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74, which had ordered the release of Pemberton based on GCTA credits.

“I was a bit taken aback, I was a bit surprised with this sudden development. But since he immediately explained why he was deciding to grant absolute pardon to Mr. Pemberton, I found it kind of awkward for me to question his personal judgment after hearing what he said, which I did not find to be objectionable anyway,” Guevarra said.

“He had some points. I thought it was improper for me to question it because that is really a personal act of grace, a personal act of clemency on his part, although that is still an official function so to speak. So I just didn’t say anything further since he already appeared to have made up his mind,” he added.