While the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) was supposedly in limbo after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered to cancel it, he granted absolute pardon to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton on September 7, 2020. Pemberton was released and deported on September 13 last year after being pardoned.
On the first year of what then was a surprise major non-COVID response move amid the pandemic and lockdown, various groups again condemned the president’s move and called for #JusticeforJenniferLaude. The topic went viral on social media, and various groups echoed their disapproval of Duterte’s pardon for Pemberton.
The US soldier, who was in the country as part of the Balikatan exercises and the VFA, was convicted of homicide and sentenced to serve 10 years in jail for killing trans women Jennifer Laude in 2014. He served only over half his sentence when Duterte freed him.
Even various officials in Duterte’s cabinet were surprised by the move. Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra said then that Duterte’s decision was “solely his own,” whereas other grants for pardon were administered by the DOJ while pardon being a presidential prerogative.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who previously served as a private lawyer for the Laude family and who vowed for justice for Jennifer, initially expressed disapproval of Pemberton’s pardon but said he respected his superior’s wisdom and thought the move to be for the country to gain access to COVID-19 vaccines produced in the US.
Pemberton’s case was considered then not only an epitome of misogynist hate crime and gaps in the laws for meting out justice for such crimes where perpetrators can get away with murder, but also of unequal US-Philippine relations.
The US serviceman was charged with murder, but the charge was downgraded and he was convicted of the lesser offense of homicide, the court citing Laude not revealing her gender identity as among the mitigating circumstances. Pemberton referred to Laude as “it” in his testimony: “I choked it, wrapped my arms around until it stopped moving and dragged it towards the bathroom.”
Before Duterte’s pardon, the Olongapo Regional Trial Court ordered the release of Pemberton by virtue of “good conduct time allowance”, with many questioning how good conduct was computed when he was in his own special prison and never served in a regular jail. While this was yet to be reviewed following the uproar and Laude’s camp out to question Pemberton’s early release, Duterte hastened the process by granting Pemberton pardon despite the latter not even applying for it.
Pemberton was also said to have “never” been in the custody of the Philippines—or the Bureau of Corrections to be exact—as it was stated in the VFA the US retains custody of their servicemen who violated Philippine laws. The same is accorded to the Philippines, but when was there ever a VFA or Balikatan exercise held in the US?
Pemberton was detained by the US Navy on board his ship during trial and then inside a “special prison facility” in Camp Aguinaldo under the authority of the US Embassy upon conviction. There was never any independent verification that Pemberton indeed stayed at the facility, recalling a time when reporters and Laude’s supporters wanted and demanded to actually see whether he was there.
“Dutertes, not our allies”
In a unity statement signed and released a day before the Pemberton pardon anniversary, various LGBTQIA+ groups and individuals declared that the Dutertes are not their allies. The statement was in response to group LGBT Pilipinas’ endorsement and pledge of “all-out support” for Duterte’s daughter, Sara, should she run for higher post next year.
The groups said they “unequivocally reject the claim of LGBT Pilipinas that President Rodrigo Duterte has ‘broken new grounds in the fight for equal rights’ and that this daughter would ‘build on the gains’ of the present administration.” LGBT Pilipinas was said to have held their first convention in Malacañang that the group took as a sign of Duterte’s “inclusion and acceptance.”
The unity statement cited Duterte’s violations against the LGBTQIA+ community:
- The 2019 State of the Nation Address line “Bakla ako noon. Pero nagamot ko ang sarili ko” [I was gay then. But I was able to cure myself] that “callously joked” about being gay before and made the LGBTQIA+ community once again a “cheap punchline” and relegating homosexuality as a mere illness that one can get rid of
- The absolute pardon for Pemberton that traded justice for Laude for COVID-19 vaccines
- The SOGIE Equality Bill continues to languish in Congress despite Duterte saying he backs the legislation but fails to certify it as urgent
- Hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community persist under Duterte, most recently the killings of Junjie Bangkiao and Ebeng Mayor
- Even LGBTQIA+ members were among the tally of those killed in the bloody war on drugs, citing the case of trans woman Heart De Chavez who was shot in the face in 2017 but was just merely accused of dealing drugs
- The poor pandemic response that affects everyone and the scanty and selective aid distribution doubly discriminates against members of the LGBTQIA+ community for not being recognized legitimate beneficiaries
Instead of an ally, the groups consider Duterte as a threat due his track record as exemplified in the list above.
“It is time we put an end to the delusion that the Dutertes would ever champion our rights,” said the groups.
