MANILA (PHILIPPINES) – The Philippines on Sunday deported a United States Marine, who was convicted for the murder of a transgender woman in the Southeast Asian country in 2014. He was granted an absolute pardon by President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokeswoman Dana Sandoval, Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton left Manila’s international airport at 9.14 am. local time (0114 GMT) aboard an American military aircraft bound for the United States.
Representatives from the US embassy accompanied him on his way to the airport, she told state television PTV-4.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement, “As a consequence of the deportation order against him, Pemberton has been placed on the Bureau’s blacklist, perpetually banning him from coming back.”
It was found that Pemberton was guilty of killing Jennifer Laude in a hotel in Olongapo, by the court outside a former US navy base northwest of the capital Manila, six years ago.
Duterte’s move to pardon Pemberton has received criticism and called the move as a “mockery of justice”.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who served as a lawyer in the prosecution of Pemberton, said that Duterte’s decision might have been because of his desire to get access to coronavirus vaccines being developed by US firms.
However, the Philippine health ministry said that no such conditions have been put forth by the US vaccine makers, who have been in talks with the government.