Philippine president pardons U.S. Marine for killing transgender Filipina

GABRIELA FILE PHOTO

The murder of transgender Jennifer Laude became an international cause. Members of 
GABRIELA, a rights group, protested in front of the White House in 2015.

In an about-face, the Philippine government pardoned a U.S. Marine who was serving prison time for killing a transgender Filipina six years ago.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte granted "absolute pardon" to U.S. Marie Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, clearing the way for his early release from a Philippine prison, announced Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

"Cutting matters short over what constitutes time served, and since where he was detained was not in the prisoner's control – and to do justice – the President has granted an absolute pardon to Pemberton," Locsin announced in a tweet on Monday, Sept. 7.

The announcement reverses the government position taken on Friday that overturned the scheduled early release. Then, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Pemberton would remain behind bars despite earning good conduct credits that shortened his 10-year sentence to jut six years.

Filipino nationalists and LGBTQ activists denounced the apparent reversal as an appeasement to the United States.

Renato Reyes Jr., of the nationalist group Bayan, said Pemberton's pardon was clearly a political accommodation to the U.S, which has been helping to countering China’s rising aggression in the region, reports the New York Times.

“The absolute pardon comes months after Duterte reversed the early pronouncement of the termination of the V.F.A.,” Reyes said, referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement. “The Philippine president has restored the V.F.A. to please the Americans.”

“The U.S. government had its way again on this issue,” he added. 

Pemberton had been sentenced to 10 years in prison last December 2015 for the killing of Jennifer Laude in a Olongapo City near Subic Bay, a military installation that used to belong to the U.S.

The Marine didn't know that Laude was a transgender Filipina. When he found out after checking into a motel, he became enraged and strangled Laude, according to witnesses.

The murder became an international incident because it affected U.S.-Philippine relations at a time when Duterte was warming the Philiippines' relations with China in order to secure an advantage in negotiations with the U.S. 

Last week, the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court granted an appeal from Pemberton and directed the Philippines Bureau of Corrections to release him.

Joseph Scott Pemberton, left, was convicted for killing Jennifer Laude, right.

The court's decision was based on Pemberton having earned his early release after he was granted full credits of Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) under a Philippine law.

The Laude family's lawyer, Romel Bagares, argued that the law didn't apply to someone under the VFA, as a member of a foreign military.

The intervention of Malacanang, the Philippines' White House, overturned the lower court's order last week and Pemberton, originally from Massachusetts, remained in jail over the weekend. No date has been announced for Pemberton's release.

UP Babaylan, a Philippines-based LGBTQ rights group, issued a statement to the international media co-signed by other rights groups that Duterte's decision sent a "loud and clear message that a Filipino trans woman's life does not matter."

Duterete's decision went viral on social media networks in the Philippines. In one of the most shared tweets, Philippine human rights activist Chel Diokno called the pardon an "affront to Jennifer Laude and her family" and a "big step backward for justice in this case and in our country."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.