DAVAO CITY — Progressive groups are wary over the deportation order issued by the Bureau of Immigration for US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who is facing trial for murder of Filipina transgender Jennifer Laude.
The Bureau of Immigration released a resolution dated September 16. The bureau said they found Pemberton “to be an undesirable alien” therefore ordering his deportation.
But the BI said the order is “subject to the issuance of a clearance from the Regional Trial Court, Branch 74, Olongapo City and other appropriate government agencies.”
The order also puts Pemberton in the bureau’s blacklist which bars him from reentering the country.
Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of Anakbayan said “it is correct that Pemberton is a criminal and an undesirable alien” but added that they worry “that the ruling could be conditioning the public mood for deportation instead of jail time in the country.”
GABRIELA Secretary General Joms Salvador also said “while the undesirable alien declaration is a well-deserved punishment for Pemberton, the deportation procedure must not preclude the verdict on the murder case filed against him at the Olongapo RTC.”
“If he is found guilty, he should be jailed in Philippine territory where he committed the crime,” said Salvador.
The group said Pemberton’s murder conviction is a non-compromise.
“Only when we see him languishing in a Philippine jail would we conclude that justice for Jennifer has been served,” said Salvador. (davaotoday.com)
