MANILA (UCAN): The granting of an absolute pardon by Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, to a United States (US) marine found guilty of killing a Filipino in 2014 has been met with dismay.
Duterte pardoned 25-year-old Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, before the marine had completed his jail term of six to 10 years for killing Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, a transgender person.
The Church’s Coalition Against Death Penalty condemned the pardon as “unjust” and a mockery of the Philippine justice system.
Jesuit Father Silvino Borres, president of the coalition, said in a September 8 statement that Pemberton’s early release showed that the Philippine justice system was unfair under the present government.
“The court order for early release and then subsequently an absolute pardon by President Duterte is yet another instance of an unfair justice system under this current administration,” Father Borres said.
He said that Duterte should have considered those who were “more eligible” for pardon than someone who was judged guilty by a court.
“We are hoping he would extend the same benevolence to thousands of other inmates who are more deserving than Pemberton,” he added.
Pemberton who was 19-years-old at the time, met the then 26-year-old Laude, at a nightclub in Subic Bay, the former US naval base in Olonggapo, in the province of Zambales. He was in the Philippines as a participant in Philippine-American joint military exercises.
At his trial in 2015, the prosecution presented video footage showing Pemberton and Laude entering a hotel together. A few hours later, the marine left the hotel alone while a hotel worker found Laude’s body inside a bathroom with a broken neck.
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The court found Pemberton “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” of homicide and jailed him. He was also ordered to pay fines to the Laude family amounting to 4.5 million pesos ($697,500).
Laude’s relatives told the press they had been offered 21 million pesos ($3.25 million) to drop charges against Pemberton but they never did.
No amount of money could pay for the years I spent raising my child,” Laude’s mother, Julita Cabillan, said in an interview.
Activist groups demanded an explanation as to why Duterte granted an absolute pardon after obtaining reports that Pemberton received special treatment in jail.
However, presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, said on national television, “There is no need for (Duterte) to give a reason … That (power to grant absolute pardon) is one of the most presidential of all presidential powers, the granting of pardon and parole.”
The Coalition Against Death Penalty also spoke out against Duterte’s move to revive the death penalty for illegal drug use, calling it a policy that “brings death rather than life and healing.”
