US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton is now on the Immigration blacklist and will be forever banned in the Philippines following his deportation, the Bureau of Immigration said Saturday.
BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said of Pemberton, who was granted absolute pardon by President Rodrigo Duterte last week: “All deported foreigners are included in our perpetual blacklist. They will no longer be allowed to return to the Philippines.”
It was not clear when Pemberton would exactly be deported, but official sources said the deportation papers were now being processed.
Pemberton was convicted for the killing of transgender woman Jennifer Laude, whom he met in a bar in Olongapo while on a break from military exercises in 2014. He admitted to choking Laude after finding out she had male genitals following an intimate act.
Laude’s body was found in an Olongapo City hotel, head slumped in a toilet bowl.
Duterte recently pardoned Pemberton, clearing all legal obstacles to the soldier’s release, despite him serving just over half his 10-year sentence.
Sandoval said there was no fixed timeline in the implementation of deportation. “We just need to wait for the documents.”
The Department of Justice, meanwhile, said Pemberton could appeal the BI ‘blacklist,’ but its lifting rarely happened.
On Friday, Pemberton’s custody was transferred to the BI from the Bureau of Corrections, although he remained at his detention facility inside Camp Aguinaldo.
The BI said it would complete deportation proceedings against Pemberton after his release from BuCor custody.
Pemberton was ordered deported for being an “undesirable alien” three months before his conviction in 2015.
While the DOJ has the final say whether it will grant an appeal to remove the blacklisting, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV that most often, the department upholds the denial of the Immigration bureau.
In a text message to reporters, the Justice official said under the rules, a person blacklisted on the basis of moral turpitude may apply to lift the order of blacklisting 10 years after its implementation.
“His order for deportation is based on a finding of undesirability on account of the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude (homicide),” Perete said.
Pemberton was sentenced to 6 to 12 years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay the Laude family at least P4.5 million for various damages.
Duterte said Pemberton was treated unfairly when his behavior while detained and in prison was not duly monitored by Philippine authorities for good conduct time credits.
The Olongapo Regional Trial Court last week determined that Pemberton had gained enough good conduct credits for him to be released forthwith, a ruling contested by lawyers for the Laude family.
“BI agents are conducting a coordination meeting now in Camp Aguinaldo to discuss logistical preparations for Pemberton’s deportation,” Sandoval said in a Viber message.
“I haven’t received flight details yet, would have to verify on the ground. From what I understand, arrangements are not yet final,” she said.
On Friday, the BI took over Pemberton’s custody from the Bureau of Corrections.