Militants slam ‘VIP treatment’ for Pemberton

From The Standard (Dec 4): Militants slam ‘VIP treatment’ for Pemberton

MILITANT groups  on Thursday  stormed the Department of Justice to express their indignation over what they called the “special treatment” the government was giving US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton.

Protest. Student activists denounce the US government’s alleged refusal to turn over custody of US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, who has been convicted of killing transgender woman Jennifer Laude, to Philippine authorities in a rally in front of the US Embassy in Manila on Thursday. Danny Pata

Pemberton, who is being held in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, was sentenced to six to 12 years in jail by an Olongapo court on Tuesday for killing transgender woman Jennifer Laude in October 2014. 

The groups, led by the Gabriela party-list and Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees or Courage, denounced Malacañang for allegedly building a special detention facility for Pemberton in Camp Aguinaldo. 

The protesters urged the department to transfer Pemberton to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City where all convicted criminals are incarcerated.

“The Aquino government has only further unmasked itself as a coddler of torturers, rapists and killers even as it hurls Philippine sovereignty down the drain,” the groups said in a statement.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap said   the US government was clearly behind Pemberton’s being lodged in Camp Aguinaldo instead of in a regular jail.

“What kind of government is this that instead of ensuring justice for one of its citizens, it busies itself in protecting the killer?” Hicap said.

He made his statement even as Bureau of Corrections chief Ricardo Rainier Cruz III said Pemberton will be moved to a “bungalow-type” detention facility that can house 50 people from the 20-footer van where he is now being held.

“It’s a big jail that can accommodate around 50 people,” Cruz said.

The militant groups on Tuesday also accused the Aquino administration of its alleged continuing detention of political prisoners. 

“President Aquino has already surpassed the record of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in terms of the number of political prisoners and even human rights violations and cases under his term,”the groups said in their statement.

In its verdict on Tuesday, the Olongapo City regional trial court Branch 74 found Pemberton guilty of homicide—not of murder as charged by the prosecution—and sentenced him to six up to 12 years in jail.

The issue on Pemberton’s detention arose after the Olongapo court ordered his transfer to the New Bilibid Prison. But the Justice Department said Pemberton would remain in Camp Aguinaldo despite the conviction.

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