A palace spokesman on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte probably granted an absolute pardon to US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was convicted of killing a Filipino transgender woman, Jennifer Laude, because he wanted the country to gain early access to a COVID-19 vaccine.
In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who once served as the lawyer for Laude’s family, said he was not surprised by the President’s pardon, believing it was done in the national interest.
“I think the President granting [a] pardon to Pemberton is part of his desire for the Philippines to get a vaccine from America in case they develop one. Because at this time of the pandemic, I know that the President puts emphasis on getting vaccines for Filipinos,” Roque said.
During the press briefing, Roque said Pemberton may have been one of the topics the President discussed in his phone conversations with either US President Donald Trump or outgoing US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Corrections approved the release order for Pemberton.
On Monday, Duterte granted absolute pardon to Pemberton who was convicted in 2015 for killing Laude in October 2014.
Last week, an Olongapo City regional trial court ordered the American soldier’s release from jail on grounds of his eligibility under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
The US Marine served more than five years into his 10-year homicide sentence at the Philippine military headquarters in Quezon City.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said that Pemberton’s release and deportation from the country “can be completed by the weekend.”
“The date of Pemberton’s actual exit from the country depends on his flight arrangements, considering that he is a military personnel of the US,” Guevarra said.
Pemberton killed Laude after finding out the latter had male genitals after having sex in a motel in Olongapo City, north of the capital Manila. Laude’s body was found wrapped in a bed sheet, with her head slumped in the toilet bowl.
Pemberton was in the country at the time to participate in joint US-Philippine military exercises.
Before the pardon, Roque had described the Olongapo court’s order to release Pemberton early as “judicial overreach.”
He quickly changed his tune, however, after the President pardoned Pemberton.
“Like the rest of the members of the Cabinet,” Roque said, he serves “at the pleasure of President Rodrigo Duterte.”