MANILA – A US marine accused in the killing of a Filipino transgender has been transferred Wednesday to a detention facility inside the main headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina is being suspected of killing the 26-year old Jeffrey Laude inside Celzone Lodge on October 11.
Laude’s body was found inside the bathroom with his head slumped in the toilet bowl and believed to have been strangled to death.
President Benigno Aquino III said Pemberton will undergo a preliminary investigation and will not be accorded special treatment.
“He is not being treated with kid gloves and the Americans – may I reiterate – are conforming to the treaty wherein they have to make this person and others available for both the investigative and the judicial processes that are forthcoming,” Aquino said.
The Philippine military said Pemberton remains in the custody of the U.S. as written in the Visiting Forces Agreement. Local authorities and the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service are jointly investigating the killing.
“The AFP merely provides a detention facility as agreed by both U.S. and Philippine government. Also, the AFP provides security augmentation at the facility. He will stay at this facility while the preliminary investigation is ongoing,” said AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr.
Pemberton, who is part of the U.S. contingent holding a joint military exercises in the Philippines, is being guarded inside a refrigerated bulk container.
Herminio Coloma, a government spokesman, said Manila and Washington will follow the provisions of the VFA in seeking justice for Laude’s murder. The VFA contains specific provisions on the legal processes to ensure that justice will prevail, he said.
Coloma cited Article 5 of the VFA on criminal jurisdiction that the “Philippine authorities shall have jurisdiction over United States personnel with respect to offenses committed within the Philippines and punishable under the law of the Philippines.”
He said Article 5, Paragraph 6 also states that the “custody of any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with United States military authorities, if they so request, from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings.”
The U.S. Embassy said: “The United States will continue to fully cooperate with Philippine law enforcement authorities in every aspect of the investigation.” (Mindanao Examiner)
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