An apology from President Duterte to Filipinos will not be enough, the lawyer of the family of slain transgender Jennifer Laude said on Tuesday.
Atty. Virginia Lacsa Suarez also said the Laude family deserves an apology from United States Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was convicted in 2015 for homicide in the 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude.
“The Laudes deserve an apology from Pemberton,” the lawyer said.
“The entire Filipino people deserve an apology from Duterte. But even this is UNACCEPTABLE!” she added.
Duterte granted absolute pardon to Pemberton on Monday night who, he said, was treated unfairly since authorities failed to monitor his detention and credit his good conduct time allowance (GCTA) that will allow for his early release.
“And you call this ‘unfair treatment’ to Pemberton?” Saurez asked.
“This is SUBSERVIENCY! A travesty of our dignity, democracy, and sovereignty. A mockery of our legal and judiciary system,” she said.
Suarez pointed out the pardon was given on the day the Olongapo City court had just started hearing the motion for reconsideration which questioned the court’s release order.
“His (Pemberton) GCTA was ordered by the Trial Court without even furnishing copies of pleadings and notices to the Laude family and counsel, not even to the Public Prosecutor, a matter that should have been the sole discretion of BuCor (Bureau of Correction), BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology), and Warden,” she said.
“Crying out injustice and outright violation of basic due process, the Laudes filed a Motion for Reconsideration,” she said.
The lawyer said the Philippines never had custody of Pemberton from the start.
Prior to his conviction, she recounted that both the court and even the police faced “difficulty serving the summon, notice, etc.”
“During trials, US soldiers were inside the court while the Laudes have only their counsels and the media was prevented from getting in, a situation that is very harassing and intimidating,” the lawyer recalled.
“On the day of conviction, our police officers were not even able to get near Pemberton as he was immediately surrounded by the US soldiers, despite the court's order for the police to take him to National Bilibid, rendering our own police inutile inside our very own court,” she added.
Pemberton was convicted in 2015 for homicide in the 2014 killing of Laude and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment ranging from six to 10 years.
However, instead of being taken to a national penitentiary following his conviction, Suarez recounted there was a “3-hour stand-off” as Pemberton invoked the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and served his sentence in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
“This motion was joined by the DOJ and the VFA Commission,” she said.