MANILA – United States (US) Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton is set to be deported over the weekend after the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) turned him over to the custody of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday.
BI spokesperson Melvin Mabulac said Pemberton’s release came after a court’s clearance that there are no pending cases against him.
The US soldier, however, has to finalize his flight schedule and travel documents prior to deportation.
“Kapag nakumpleto po natin ito, that would be the time na dadalhin siya sa airport para sa flight schedule na out of the country at we have to ensure na siya ay nakaalis,” Mabulac said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
The BI said its bureau of commissioners issued the order against Pemberton on Sept. 16, 2015 for being an undesirable alien.
The BI issued the deportation order against Pemberton for being an “undesirable alien” three months before his conviction in 2015.
The American serviceman convicted of killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude in 2014 received absolute pardon from President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week after serving nearly six years in detention for homicide.
In October 2014, Laude was found dead in an Olongapo City motel room after a night out with then 19-year-old Pemberton, who confessed to killing her after finding out she was a transgender. The 26-year-old was found alone in the bathroom with her neck blackened with strangulation marks and head rammed into a toilet./PN
