MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte said he decided to grant US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton with absolute pardon as the latter was treated unfairly while detained for the murder of Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude.
During Monday’s public address, President Duterte said Pemberton’s behavior while detained and in prison was not duly monitored by Philippine authorities for good conduct time credits.
“‘Pag walang record ‘di mo malaman kung nabilang ba o hindi. ‘Pag ka ganon hindi kasalanan ni Pemberton. He is not required to keep a record of his own and characterize his behavior while inside the prison,” Duterte said.
“I am not favoring anybody – neither Pemberton, nor the family [of Laude]. Ang pardon walang maka-question niyan. Kaligayahan ko na lang magpakulong ng mga buang, mga gago but it is time that you are called upon to be fair, be fair,” he added.
Duterte explained that the decision was consulted with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Department of Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra.
Guevarra, for his part, said President Duterte’s decision to grant absolute pardon to Pemberton was unprompted and “solely his own.”
“The president simply felt that it was not Pemberton’s fault that there was no way of recording his behavior in a military detention center all alone by himself. So since there were no reports of misbehavior, the presumption of good conduct was on his side,” Guevarra said Tuesday.
“I just told him that pardon is an act of grace and that it is his exclusive prerogative under the Constitution,” he added. “The presidential pardon is enough to trigger the issuance of a release order from BuCor (Bureau of Corrections). Same procedure as for other pardonees.”
Pemberton was convicted of homicide over the death of Laude, a 26-year-old transgender woman, whose lifeless body was found in a motel room in Olongapo City on Oct. 11, 2014.
The US soldier was sentenced to six to 10 years of imprisonment and had served over five years when an Olongapo judge ruled that he was entitled to be released given the GCTAs he supposedly earned on top of his actual time served.
According to the court, 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./PN
