Posted on 10/20/2015 2:28:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) has issued a deportation order against US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton even as he is still on trial for the killing of a Filipino transgender last year.
But the BI clarified the deportation order could not be immediately enforced pending clearance from the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74, which is hearing Pemberton’s case.
The Marine is being tried for the murder of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in October last year inside a motel room in Olongapo.
BI spokesperson Elaine Tan said yesterday the bureau wanted Pemberton deported on the ground of “undesirability.” She said the order was contained in a five-page resolution issued last Sept. 16.
“Pemberton would not be deported until we get clearance from the court… We would have to wait for the court’s decision before we could physically deport him,” Tan said.
The murder case is set for promulgation on Dec. 14.
If the court finds Pemberton guilty, he must serve his sentence first before he can be sent back to the United States. But if he is acquitted, then he would be immediately deported, Tan explained.
Tan added that despite the deportation order, the Marine would remain in detention at Camp Aguinaldo and would not be placed under the custody of the BI.
She said immigration officials have informed the Olongapo court about the deportation order.
The deportation order for an “undesirable” alien was based mainly on a statement from Laude’s friend Mark Clarence “Barbie” Gelviro who, during an October 2014 Senate hearing, pointed to Pemberton as the person who most likely killed the 24-year-old transgender by drowning him in a toilet inside a room at Celzone Lodge in Olongapo City. Gelviro was with Laude and Pemberton before the pair checked into Celzone Lodge.
On Oct. 26 last year, the BI’s Legal Division charged Pemberton with “undesirability” and included his name in its watchlist.
The case was then forwarded to the bureau’s Board of Special Inquiry (BSI) composed of BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison and Associate Commissioners Gilberto Repizo and Abdullah Mangotara.
On Nov. 24 last year, the US Marine filed a motion for self-deportation.
The BSI said there was no doubt Pemberton poses risk to public interest and should be deported.
The BSI said that as stipulated in “Acts or Omissions that Constitute Undesirability of Foreign Nationals, Section 1,” there is a “presumption” that a foreign national is undesirable “if he commits an act constituting a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment of one year or more.”
In Pemberton’s case, he was charged with murder, which is a serious criminal offense punishable with more than a year’s imprisonment.
The BI-BSI explained that since a deportation proceeding is administrative in character, it only requires “substantial evidence” to establish that an alien poses a risk to national security, public safety or national interest.
“Substantial evidence” refers to relevant information that is enough to support a position.
The immigration bureau believes the evidence gathered during the Senate hearing, such as Gelviro’s statement as well as corroborative statement from Celzon Lodge’s cashier Elias Galamos, were enough to justify Pemberton’s deportation.
Galamos testified having seen Pemberton walk out of the room less than an hour after he and Laude checked in.
Immigration officials also cited as basis for the deportation order the finding of probable cause to charge Pemberton with murder and the subsequent issuance of a warrant of arrest against the Marine by Branch 74 of the Olongapo court.
“We find respondent Pemberton, an American national, to be an undesirable alien and order his deportation, subject to the issuance of a clearance from the Regional Trial Court, Branch 74, Olongapo City and other appropriate government agencies,” the BSI said.
Likewise, Pemberton’s offer for self-deportation was denied for lack of merit.
Pemberton was one of the US soldiers conducting a joint drill with Filipino forces under the Visiting Forces Agreement.
The killing of Laude triggered public outrage and rekindled calls for the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
It would be nice if we could have illegal aliens deported on the ground of “undesirability.”
It seems to me that if the transgender did not inform the Marine of its current status and he found out only after heavy petting/kissing etc. then the Marine was quite probably temporarily insane upon the discover of twigs and berries.
Transgenders have a duty to inform others (IMO).
Congress Critters also!
This thing is bizarre though.
This US Marine is being charged for killing a transgender in the Philippines. He is about to go to trial and then we have this deportation.... (Hell, I’d volunteer to be deported if I were him ).
I’m not sure what is going on behind the scenes.
At any rate, whether he is tried by the Philippine government or by the US military, HE HAS TO BE TRIED.
It seems no one wants this case
RE: Transgenders have a duty to inform others (IMO).
But even if he neglected to do that, killing him was still unjustified.
If the marine did kill him, he should be punished, if there is any justice.
RE: He’ll skate and be deported ...
It seems no one wants this case
__________________________
I personally think that the US Military SHOULD NOT LET THIS CASE GO.
He should be tried in military court if justice is to prevail.
He was not a soldier.
killing him was still unjustified
I would say that depends on the mental state of the Marine at the time. If the revelation that he was actually with another man (transgender or not) drove him into a fit of rage I could see him getting off with a temporary insanity plea (if they have that in the PI).
I didn’t assign guilt or innocence ... just ... I think he’ll skate
RE: He was not a soldier.
The report said he is a US Marine, so what is he then?
A Marine.
Nobody told him about “Benny Boys” and he found out the hard way.
They do have “Crimes of passion”, as with most Latin legal systems -
Any person who has acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced
passion or obfuscation shall be considered as a mitigating circumstance for the crime committed (Article 13, The
Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, 1999) and death and physical injuries inflicted by the offender to the victim
will be punished with destierro or no penalty respectively (Article 247, The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines,
1999)
Life Olongapo is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get!"
I always said that P.T. Barnum would have loved this place - it's a real circus [zoo]!
For God's view of the place, see "Mt Pinatubo - 1991".
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