President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday granted absolute pardon to an American soldier who was convicted of killing transgender Filipino woman Jennifer Laude in 2014, saying it was only fair to grant it to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Pemberton because he was "not treated fairly."
Duterte said the government, specifically the Philippine Marines, failed to keep a record of Pemberton's jail time.
"You have not treated Pemberton fairly so i-release ko. Pardon. Ang pardon walang question yan," he said in an address to the nation aired on government TV stations.
"The Marines never kept a record, di nila trabaho yan… Hindi kasalanan ni Pemberton. Hindi siya required to keep a record of his own…. Allow him good character presumption kasi wala naman nagreport na nagkakalat siya sa loob or he destroys things," the President added.
The American soldier was convicted of killing Laude in a fit of rage over a sexual encounter in Olongapo in October 2014.
Sources, who requested anonymity, told the Standard Pemberton would be transported out of the country within 24 hours to prevent appeals that would keep him in a local cell.
The President said he was not favoring Pemberton and that he only wanted to be fair. "If there is a time you are called to be fair, be fair," he said.
Perhaps anticipating backlash from critics who may compare his fairness to Pemberton to his administration's bloody war on drugs, Duterte said: "If you ask me kung fair ako sa durugistan, I say be cruel. Be cruel."
Asked if the President consulted him before making the decision, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he was.
"Pardon is an act of grace on the part of the Chief Executive. He may exercise this plenary power of executive clemency at anytime and under any circumstance," Guevarra said in a text to reporters.
Hours earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced on Twitter the US Marine's impending release.
"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. Here at the Palace," Locsin said, in his Twitter post.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who served as legal counsel for the Laude family, reported Duterte's move, but said Pemberton was still a killer.
“The President has erased any punishment that should have been imposed on Pemberton,” Roque said in Filipino. “What the President did not erase was Pemberton's conviction. He is still a killer.”
Laude's family on Monday condemned President Duterte’s decision.
Virginia Lacsa Suarez, legal counsel for the Laudes, said: “As a lawyer of the Laude family, secretary general of the Kilusan and chairperson of Kaisa Ka, we condemn the statement of Duterte giving absolute pardon to Pemberton, an American soldier who committed atrocious crime to a transwoman like Jennifer Laude.”
Suarez said she was surprised to hear that Pemberton would now be able to walk free, and that she did not expect the pardon, which now effectively prevents them from questioning his release and efforts to correct the system.
“Goodness, I am shocked. There are many thoughts running through my mind. What is happening? Is this a joke? Are we just playing moro-moro? Has Pemberton already left? Is that why he was given absolute pardon to give legal color or to justify that he is no longer here?” Suarez said.
Suarez said Pemberton’s release only showed that the Philippines is still a follower of the United States.
Locsin’s disclosure came after the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court on Monday ordered the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to submit a manifestation on whether or not Pemberton, who was sentenced to a six- to 10-year imprisonment for killing Laude, is entitled to Good Conduct Time Allowance.
The Olongapo City court earlier ordered the early release from detention of Pemberton, who has served five years of the sentence.
Judge Roline Ginez-Abalde held that Pemberton had served a total of 2,142 days and earned 1,548 GCTAs. Taken together, this amounts to 3,690 days, or 10 years, one month, and 10 days.
The BuCor later suspended Pemberton’s release pending resolution of the motion for reconsideration filed by the Laude family seeking to stop the US soldier’s early release.
Earlier, the Olongapo court ordered BuCor to submit a manifestation stating whether Pemberton was entitled to good conduct time allowances, said Virginia Suarez, counsel for the Laude family.
The Laude family opposed the court's ruling, saying Pemberton is not entitled to GCTAs. They also argued that there is no proof of the convicted Marine's supposed good conduct.
Pemberton's lawyer, on the other hand, insisted that the BuCor officers who guarded the convict at Camp Aguinaldo attested to his good behavior.
The Department of Justice, through its prosecutors in Olongapo, was expected to file its own motion for reconsideration opposing Pemberton’s early release—but a presidential pardon would render the action moot.
The law on GCTAs, Republic Act No. 10592, provides the number of days that may be deducted from an inmate's service of sentence for each month of good behavior.
Laude, a 26-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in the bathroom of a motel room in Olongapo City on Oct. 11, 2014.
Pemberton was charged with murder, but he was convicted of homicide in 2015, a verdict that was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Instead of a regular jail, he has been detained for more than five years at military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.
Amid the controversy over his early release, the Laude family sought to go to his detention cell to see if he was still there. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said they would have to communicate with BuCor.
The Laudes' lawyer said she is not discounting the possibilities that the grant of pardon to Pemberton was part of the condition for the country to have its $2 billion attack helicopters and ammunition approved or part of the condition for the US to return to Subic by taking over Hanjin Shipyard.
Suarez said President Duterte’s order to grant absolute pardon to Pemberton took away from the Department of Justice the opportunity to question the decision of RTC Judge Roline Ginez Jabalde and the Bureau of Correction (BuCor) to explain on the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) of Pemberton.
“This is disappointing. We could have fixed it. This could have served as a lesson in case a similar incident happens in the future,” Suarez added.
Centerlaw, a human rights advocacy group, tied Pemberton's release to larger developments involving Manila and Washington.
“The signs had been there all along —the President’s turnaround on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s statements on renewed cooperation between the US and Philippine Armed Forces in the South China Sea, and even a sale of US helicopters to the Philippines. And the price we had to pay, among other things, is the freedom for Mr. Pemberton, and the violation of the rights of poor Filipinos like Jeffrey Laude, who are deemed insignificant in the scale of things.”
Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite denounced the pardon, calling it “an act of an American lackey.”
“There is a pending appeal in the court from the family of Jennifer Laude, but this connivance between
Malacañang and the United States government ensured that this appeal would not prosper," Gaite said.
"The granting of his early liberty is premised on Good Conduct Time Allowance but this remains to be suspended and thus should not have been accepted by the court,” he said.
He added that the Palace had to come to the rescue since the legal case for Pemberton's early release was on shaky ground.
“Clearly the Palace gives more value to being in the good graces of the United States rather than give justice to its own citizens," he added.