In the Case of Joseph Pemberton Filipinos Have Only Themselves to Blame

The death of Jeffery Laude in 2014 and the ensuing events is one heck of a farce. I am tempted to say it is hilarious as all the circumstances surrounding his death and the subsequent incarceration of Joseph Pemberton have become a part of the clown world which is now our pathetic every day reality.

Filipinos are angry that Pemberton, who was sentenced to 10 years, has now been ordered released after only serving half that time because of good behavior allowances. Well, they only have themselves to blame as it is Filipinos who wrote the Good Conduct Time Allowance law which has paved the way for Pemberton's release. It is also Filipinos who nurtured the culture which allowed Jeffery Laude to live the sordid life which ended in his death. If anything Pemberton has simply been unwittingly caught up in the absurd twilight zone that is the Philippines. 

The timeline of events is rather straightforward. Pemberton met a woman at a bar and went back to a hotel with her and had anal and oral sex. Only she was a man!!

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/pemberton-did-not-know-laude-000000903.html

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton did not know Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude was a transgender, a witness told the Senate as it opened its own inquiry yesterday into the Oct. 11  killing. 

Evidence recovered at the crime scene also indicated anal sex occurred in the hotel room where Laude was found dead, although it has not yet been determined who engaged in the sex. 

The Senate foreign relations committee started its probe into the death of Laude in Olongapo City, with the victim’s transgender friend, Mark Clarence “Barbie” Gelviro, narrating the events on the fateful Saturday night. 

“Ang alam po ni Pemberton kami ay mga totoong babae (Pemberton thought we were real women),” Gelviro told the committee chaired by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who later said she considered the evidence against the suspect “damning.” 

Chief Superintendent Theresa Ann Cid, chief of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, said evidence recovered at the crime scene included strands of hair, two used condoms, blood and urine samples. The PNP is still completing the tests on the evidence. 

Told about the condoms, Santiago remarked: “At least we can safely say that the suspect, or what they call in America as a person of interest, ejaculated twice. Would that be correct?” 

Cid replied, “Not necessarily, your honor. The first condom has fresh seminal fluid, with fecal material. The second condom seems not to have the presence of semen… Apparently, they were used.” 

Chief Inspector Reynaldo Dave, PNP medico-legal officer, said it was safe to say that the condoms were used in anal sex. The police experts, however, said they could not conclude that the semen samples belonged to Pemberton. 

“If he was a male, how does he have sex with the Marine?” Santiago asked. 

“I just have to corroborate with the findings on condoms and the other pieces of evidence,” Dave replied. “We can safely conclude (anal or rectal sex).” 

Santiago said anal sex is “the usual method for transgenders.” 

After the hearing, Santiago said the evidence appeared to be “damning” and there was “cruelty” in the killing.

Is there any homicide that is not cruel? How about the cruelty and the shame of tricking a young man into thinking you are a woman, going back to a hotel with him, and persuading him to sex you in the butt!? This is the reason to which Pemberton admitted why he strangled Jeffery.

United States Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, on trial here for the alleged murder of transgender Filipina Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude in October 2014, admitted he strangled her but added it was "in self defense." 

Pemberton appeared at the Regional Trial Court Branch 74 as a witness for the defense on Monday, August 24. 

Private lawyer for the Laude family, Harry Roque, told the media in a press briefing that Pemberton made the admission during his testimony. 

Roque said Pemberton told the court Laude was performing oral sex on him when he suddenly felt a penis when he put his hand between Laude's legs. 

The US serviceman said he was shocked at the discovery and pushed back Laude who fell from the bed but got up and went to him to slap him in the face. 

He said he retaliated by putting his hand in Laude’s neck, choking the victim. 

He said he saw Laude stopped moving and thought the victim lost consciousness because of what he did. He dragged the body to the bathroom to try to pour water to revive Laude. 

He said he found no water in the bathroom so he decided to just leave Laude there.

https://rappler.com/nation/pemberton-admits-laude-self-defense

On December 1, 2015 Pemberton was convicted of homicide, not murder, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But instead of being sent to New Bilibid he was given his own special cell at Camp Aguinaldo. The judge who convicted him ordered him to be sent to NBP because she was unaware of the agreement the Philippine and US governments cut which mandated Pemberton stay confined at Camp Aguinaldo.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/133507/pemberton-cell-agreed-on-months-ago

Lawyer Jose Justiniano said the issue of Pemberton’s place of detention following his conviction was governed by what the United States and Philippine governments may decide, in accordance with the terms of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). 

Justiniano said that when he was with the DOJ as the undersecretary in charge of the Laude case, an agreement was reached sometime in August between the Department of Foreign Affairs, the US Embassy and the VFA Commission that Pemberton would be detained at Camp Aguinaldo if he were convicted. 

“There was an agreement but I did not see if it was a signed agreement,” he said, adding that the DOJ was not a primary party to the agreement. 

The lawyer said the agreement was not made known to the judge for reasons of “prematurity.” He said this was why the Olongapo judge ordered that Pemberton be detained at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City until Philippine and US authorities produced an agreement on where Pemberton was to be detained. 

“[The judge] was not aware and the reason is, it was premature for the judge to know since there was still no judgment when the agreement on [Pemberton’s] detention was agreed upon,” he explained.

If the agreement was made months before the conviction in December one would think the judge would have been informed by then.  Why leave her out of the loop even at the last minute and cause all the confusion? Whose fault is that if not the DOJ's? Pemberton's new cell was to be rebuilt and brought up to international standards.  This begs the question about the state of all the other prison cells inside Camp Aguinaldo as well as elsewhere in the BuCor system.

In accordance with the terms of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the US and the Philippines have agreed that the facility at the barracks of the Armed Forces Custodial Center should be Pemberton’s place of detention where he will serve out his 6-to-12-year sentence for the killing of transgender Jennifer Laude at an Olongapo City hotel last year. 

However, the US has requested that the facility be improved, said BuCor director general Ricardo Rainier Cruz III. 

“It should meet international standards… There was a request to improve it, the expenses will be mutually shouldered,” Cruz said in a phone-patch interview. 

Since his conviction by an Olongapo court last Tuesday, Pemberton has been incarcerated at his old cell, a 20-foot airconditioned container van. 

Pemberton’s soon-to-be new home is less than 100 meters away from his current detention cell. The AFP custodial center can accommodate up to 50 people. 

The physical security of the new jail cell will be improved by securing it with barbed wire and installing more surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the convicted US Marine. Pemberton’s new jail cell may also be repainted and redesigned to make the temperature cooler. 

The cost of the renovations will be shared between the BuCor, the AFP and the US government. 

According to Cruz, even before Pemberton was convicted last Tuesday, US and Philippine authorities through the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission had already agreed on Camp Aguinaldo as the possible detention area.

“There was an agreement already between the BuCor, the AFP, as well as the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police, that he won’t be detained at the NBP,” he said. 

He said this was provided for in the VFA, and that the renovations to Pemberton’s jail cell was also provided for in the VFA.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/133311/afp-readies-detention-cell-for-pemberton

To sum up a young man goes to a hotel with a woman and has sex with her. When he finds out she is actually a man he freaks out and chokes him. He is later convicted of homicide and is allowed to serve his ten year sentence in a specially built cell in Camp Aguinaldo rather than having to suffer in the general population of New Bilibid Prison. 

Did Pemberton not get a refresher course on Filipino lady-boys? Did none of his CO's or even the men in his unit warn him that if you reach down on some of the pretty Filipinas you will feel a penis? The Philippines prides itself on being the only Christian nation in Asia so why do they continue to nurture bakla, or homosexual, culture? The answer is quite long but baklas, men who act like women, have been around since long before the arrival of the Spanish. In fact these men are allegedly not merely acting like women but are something else altogether.

In Filipino culture, the soul of the mind is the “true soul”. It is known in Tagalog as the kaluluwa (also kaduwa, karuruwa, kaluha, kalag, dungan, etc. in other Philippine languages, meaning “twin” or “companion”). It resides in the head and governs your thoughts, emotions, and personality. It leaves your body during dreams, delirium in sickness, trance states, and insanity. 

The other soul is known as the ginhawa or hininga (meaning “breath” or “life force”). It is located in the pit of the stomach (interestingly, also the seat of the enteric nervous system, the “second brain”). It governs things like body processes and instinctive urges like hunger, It is basically your physical self. It is tied to the body. If it ever leaves the body, the body dies. 

Thus, a man is a male mind in a male body, while a woman is a female mind in a female body. This also means they can be inverted. A female mind can be in a male body, and a male mind can be in a female body. 

These inversions are the bakla (men who live as women) as well as the binalaki (women who live as men).

The acceptance of bakla however, was so culturally entrenched, that even though the Philippines became predominantly Catholic, they didn’t really disappear. Though they couldn’t become shamans anymore. they still pretty much filled in the roles of “mediators” in Filipino communities, often becoming comedians and entertainers. As long as they didn’t delve into shamanism again or got caught in the act of homosexual sex, the Spanish clergy tolerated them. 

That’s basically how they survived into the modern era, and why they are comparatively still more socially accepted than in western societies. They’re a cultural relic. One of the last remnants of the animistic roots of Filipino society.

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-there-so-many-lady-boys-in-the-Philippines

Didn't anyone warn Pemberton about these creatures? And why didn't Jeffery reveal that he was a man?  There are men who love to go with lady-boys.  He did not need to deceive Pemberton. So why did he do it? How many times had he gotten away with it? Was it a turn on for Jeffery to trick straight men into having butt-sex with him?

Fast forward to September 2020 and now Pemberton has been ordered released due to good behavior points earned according to the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1330366/olongapo-court-orders-release-of-pemberton

In an order dated Sept. 1 and signed by Olongapo RTC Presiding Judge Roline M. Ginez-Jabalde, Pemberton has a total accumulated time served of 10 years, one month, and 10 days. The computation has included the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA). 

The Uniform Manual on Time Allowances and Service of Sentence defines GCTA as a “privilege granted to a Person Deprived of Liberty (PDL), entitling him/her to a reduction of prison term for every month of actual detention or service of the sentence as a reward for good conduct and exemplary behavior.” 

Republic Act 10592 has increased the GCTA provided to persons deprived of liberty. 

Under the Law, in the first two years of imprisonment, the deduction has been increased from five days of each month of good behavior to 20 days. On the third to the fifth year inclusive of his imprisonment, the deduction has been increased from eight days to 23 days for each month of good behavior during detention. The following year to the tenth year inclusive of imprisonment, the deduction has been increased from 10 days to 25 days for each month of good behavior, and on the 11th month and successive years, the deduction has been increased from 15 days to 30 days. 

In the case of Pemberton who was preventively detained for 405 while his trial is ongoing earned 260 GCTA points while in the succeeding years of his detention after he was convicted, he earned the perfect score of 20 days deduction per month from December 2015 and the 12 months of 2016. 

For 2017 to December 2019, he earned 23 days reduction per month and 25 days per month from January to August 2020. 

“Finally, accused Pemberton has a total accumulated time served with the entitlement of GCTA of 10 years, 1 month and 10 days which is more than the 10-year maximum penalty imposed by this court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Thus, he is now entitled to be released for he had already served the 10-year maximum penalty,” the court said. 

Pemberton’s actual imprisonment is only six years.

Here is the text of the actual law which was signed by President Aquino in 2013.

Section 3. Article 97 of the same Act is hereby further amended to read as follows: 

"ART. 97. Allowance for good conduct. – The good conduct of any offender qualified for credit for preventive imprisonment pursuant to Article 29 of this Code, or of any convicted prisoner in any penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center or any other local jail shall entitle him to the following deductions from the period of his sentence: 

"1. During the first two years of imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of twenty days for each month of good behavior during detention; 

"2. During the third to the fifth year, inclusive, of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a reduction of twenty-three days for each month of good behavior during detention; 

"3. During the following years until the tenth year, inclusive, of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of twenty-five days for each month of good behavior during detention; 

"4. During the eleventh and successive years of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of thirty days for each month of good behavior during detention; and 

"5. At any time during the period of imprisonment, he shall be allowed another deduction of fifteen days, in addition to numbers one to four hereof, for each month of study, teaching or mentoring service time rendered.

https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2013/ra_10592_2013.html

It is not my intent to delve into the controversy surrounding this law. Rappler has a timeline which can be read here. It is also not my place to determine whether or not Pemberton actually qualifies under the GCTA law. The court says he does and that decision is being challenged. My intent is to take a look at the law itself. 

We see in the case of Pemberton that his sentence has been halved all because he was a good boy. For every month of good behavior practically a whole month is deducted from a prisoner's sentence! If a prisoner messes up and displays bad conduct his good conduct allowances are not forfeited!

Section 5. Article 99 of the same Act is hereby further amended to read as follows:" 

"ART. 99. Who grants time allowances. – Whenever lawfully justified, the Director of the Bureau of Corrections, the Chief of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and/or the Warden of a provincial, district, municipal or city jail shall grant allowances for good conduct. Such allowances once granted shall not be revoked."

What you have in this law is an absolute travesty of justice. What kind of justice is it when a person can nullify their prison sentence by their behavior? Potentially a prisoner can knock off 240 days of his sentence each year, more as his imprisonment continues, just because of good behavior and all of that is irrevocable even if he exhibits bad behavior. There is thus ample encouragement of good behavior through a system of merits but no discouragement of bad behavior through a system of demerits. Good behavior is also not defined which further exacerbates the problems with this law. Such a law is ripe for abuse and it is no wonder that the GCTA law has indeed been abused by BuCor officials and prisoners.

Who thought this law was a good idea? Even in the USA a prisoner can only earn 54 days of good conduct allowance per year and it can be forfeited due to bad behavior. Filipinos only have themselves to blame for this unjust law. They crafted it and they signed it into law. Don't blame Pemberton for taking advantage of it and using it to his benefit. Why shouldn't he? Instead blame should be heaped upon the short-sighted politicians who made the GCTA law. Politicians like Senator DeLima.

Senator DeLima, who helped craft this law, amazingly claims there is a salutary wisdom behind it.

“We’re probably looking at another case here of misapplication or abuse of the GCTA Law which is unfortunate as it undermines the very wisdom and salutary philosophy behind said law, a tool for restorative justice and intended only for deserving PDLs,” De Lima said in a statement, reacting on the early release of Pemberton who killed transgender Jennifer Laude.

De Lima further slammed the order to release Pemberton, saying it “replaced justice with injustice and reopened wounds that started healing when Laude’s murderer was convicted and imprisoned.” 

The senator also questioned how the convicted murderer was given a “free pass” by the court. 

“After much ruckus over the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) controversy, former US marine Scott Pemberton, who was convicted for the murder of transgender Jennifer Laude, has been allowed by Olongapo City RTC, Branch 74 a free pass. Sa kabila ng bigat ng krimen na ginawa niya, parang napakadali para sa korte na palayain siya nang maaga,” she said. 

(Despite the gravity of his crime, it seems so easy for the court to release him early.)

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1331719/pembertons-release-possibly-shows-abuse-of-gcta-law-de-lima-says

First of all Pemberton was NOT convicted of murder. He was convicted of homicide. The two are not the same. This is a crucial distinction because under the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the GCTA those convicted of heinous crimes like murder are exempted from availing from the law. Homicide is not listed as a heinous crime under those rules.

Second of all that "free pass" is written explicitly into the GCTA law. What wisdom is there in a law where a prisoner can shave off 8 months of his prison sentence per year through good behavior and not lose any of that accumulated merit through bad behavior? The very GCTA law itself undermines the philosophy behind any mode of justice. Justice, while it can be restorative and reformatory, must also be punitive. Crime and punishment isn't just one of the greatest novels all time, it is the bedrock of an orderly and safe society. If you commit a crime you must bear your punishment.

Probably one of the dumbest takes on this whole situation is that of Harry Roque who was counsel for the Laude family.

The death of a Filipino man by a foreigner for the reason that he was committing fraud in presenting himself as a woman and tricked the foreigner into having sex with him personifies the death of Philippine sovereignty? Actually the whole situation personifies life in the Philippines where much of the culture is based on deception and lies thus forcing one to do whatever it takes to survive.

Let me be completely clear that Joshua Pemberton is wholly responsible for the death of Jeffery Laude. But let's not fool ourselves either. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Except in the Philippines where everything sucks!


Post script.

After writing all the above and preparing to publish it Duterte, straight out of left field and stunning the nation, cut the gordian knot and granted Joshua Pemberton an absolute pardon thus absolving him of any criminal liability for his actions.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1332328/breaking-duterte-grants-absolute-pardon-to-pemberton-locsin

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Pemberton can now be released from jail and his good conduct time allowance (GCTA) is no longer an issue. 

(This means that Pemberton can now walk free, his entitlement to GCTA, and whether the law is applicable to him are no longer in question. The President has erased other punishments to be imposed on Pemberton.) 

(What the President did not erase was Pemberton’s conviction; he is still a murderer but the other penalties he may receive were already erased by the President.) 

Asked the reason behind the President’s decision, Roque said: “Hindi na po kinakailangang bigyang dahilan ng Presidente yan dahil yung pag grant po ng pardon at parole, yan naman po ang ating sinasabi na hindi po yan katungkulan ng hudikatura, kung di katungkulan ng ehekutibo.” (A reason is no longer needed because granting pardon and parole is not the duty of the judiciary but of the executive.)

Why did Duterte grant Pemberton an absolute pardon when the Palace said earlier that granting him an early release is unjust judicial overreach? According to Roque no reason is needed. It is Duterte's prerogative to grant pardon to whomsoever he will. Later the President explained his decision by saying that Pemberton had been been treated unfairly and that he deserved the presumption of good character and to avail of the GCTA law.

The President explained that Pemberton should have been presumed to have exhibited good moral character while imprisoned, given that authorities did not report otherwise. 

"We should allow him the good character presumption, kasi wala namang nag-report na Marines na nagsabing nagwawala siya," Duterte said in a public address. 

(The Marines did not report anything about him acting out.) 

"You have not treated Pemberton fairly. So, i-release ko. Pardon. Eh ang pardon, walang mga question 'yan (there are no questions there)," Duterte said, noting that he discussed the matter with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. 

"In fairness, tapos na 'yung kwentada. He was recommended to be released. Eh, i-release mo," he said. 

(In fairness, the computation has been made... So, you release him.) 

Duterte claimed he was not taking sides with his decision. 

"I am not favoring anybody--neither Pemberton, nor the family [of Laude]," he said.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/07/20/duterte-cites-unfair-treatment-of-pemberton-in-pardon-grant

This news first broke over Twitter when DFA Teddy Locisn tweeted Duterte's decision.

https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/1302892173633843201

"And to do justice." What is just about this decision of an absolute pardon? How does the President granting such a boon do justice to the victim or his family? The Laude family is not pleased at all with this decision as they had sought relief from the court to block Pemberton's release. A decision from the court would have decided whether or not prisoners subjected to the VFA are able to avail of the GCTA law which would have settled any similar disputes in the future. Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque will also likely be displeased with Duterte's decision as he called Pemberton's early release symbolic of the death of the Philippines' sovereignty. As Duterte's mouthpiece he must swallow whatever indignation he might harbor against this decision and tow the line or forfeit his job.

Once again Joseph Pemberton is simply caught along in the sweeping river of absurdity that is life in the Philippines. Filipinos have only themselves to blame in this whole matter. It is they who crafted the GCTA law which might have led to his release and it is the President they elected who granted Joseph Pemberton an absolute pardon.