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On Pemberton’s Pardon and the Culture of Forgiveness among Filipinos

  • Writer: Second Class Citizens
    Second Class Citizens
  • Oct 2, 2020
  • 6 min read

Joseph Pemberton, a US Marine stationed in Olongapo, was the suspect for the murder of a Filipino transgender, Jennifer Laude. Last September 7, 2020 Pemberton was granted absolute pardon by President Rodrigo Duterte and was deported back to the United States. His release, which is years short of the original verdict of 10 years of imprisonment, received backlash among the Filipino community.

(c) CNN Philippines


The death of Jennifer Laude

Joseph Scott Pemberton was a United States Marine stationed in the Philippines that time as part of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of the Philippine government. Pemberton was one of the 3,500 US sailors and marines part of the Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHILBLEX) held at Olongapo City. He was convicted of killing Laude in an Olongapo lodge in October 2014.


CNN Philippines (2017)  detailed the events that led to the murder of Jennifer Laude. Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, a Filipino transgender, was 26 years old when the incident happened last October 11, 2014. Laude was set to meet a “white foreigner” while drinking with a companion nicknamed as Barbie. While Barbie was in another room, Laude and the “foreigner” stayed in another room. Staff of Celzone Lodge, where they met, got appalled when they found Laude dead, “naked with her head submerged in the motel room’s toilet.” The “foreigner” was later identified as the 19-year old Joseph Scott Pemberton. 


Autopsy reports later divulged that Jennifer Laude died because of “asphyxia by drowning.” Three condoms and a condom wrapper used in the time of the incident were also found to have fingerprints of Pemberton. This time, the Philippine government promised justice for Jennifer and for her bereaved family. 


How has the case progressed over the years

Citing treachery, abuse of superior strength, and cruelty, Pemberton was issued a warrant of arrest for claims of murdering Laude. Although Pemberton and his camp filed various motions to dismiss his case, he was found guilt of homicide—and not murder— in the death of Laude. This, after he testified in the court that he choked Laude “after learning that she was also a man.” He also stated before the courts that he “dragged Laude’s body into the bathroom of the motel room” to revive her state at that time using water. A sentence of 12 years of imprisonment with no chances of bail were decided upon last December 1, 2015. 


However, this prison term was then lessened to 10 years on March 29, 2016 after the decision from the Olongapo Regional Trial Court (RTC).  


President Duterte granted Pemberton an absolute pardon

Four years ahead of Pemberton’s release, the Olongapo RTC gave Pemberton full GCTA credits, which was questioned by the camp of Jennifer Laude. GCTA, or the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, was prescribed under the Revised Penal Code giving allowances for good conduct for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs). Such law may reduce sentences of PDLs or those in prison depending on the conduct they exhibit inside any penal institution. Abiding by the rules and regulations of the said institution may help earn points for the GCTA, hence reducing prison terms. 


Last September 7 this year, President Rodrigo Duterte granted absolute pardon to Joseph Scott Pemberton saying that he did not clear Pemberton of his homicide case but rather cleared only the punishment imposed, as emphasized by Atty. Harry Roque (the same lawyer who represented the Laude family back in 2015). Pemberton was later released and was deported back to his home country after two days.


Collective outrage of Filipinos 

This event caused the mother of Jennifer Laude to question Duterte’s motives. In an interview with Rappler (2020), Julita Laude elaborated how ten years of full sentence was the only compensation for reprieve and in exchange of the lost life of her daughter. But, even that, was not respected by President Duterte.  Moving on, according to her, is not a choice as she was confident that the President would help their family until the end of Pemberton’s sentence. 


This decision of President Duterte has also gained traction among the Filipino populace. Such a response by the Philippine government is seen as irresponsible and unsolicited. Thus, only adding fire to the outrage that Filipino individuals share. For reasons unknown to the public, we can only surmise that the granting of absolute pardon to an offender is just one of President Duterte’s ploy to openly and blatantly disregard his citizens’ rights—an occurrence that adds to his long list of human rights offenses. 


This uproar among the Filipino community may also be another ruse to blur the focus on the COVID-19 management situation as well as the corruption allegations in PhilHealth. Or maybe, it is an exclusive privilege that white foreigners can get in our homeland. Or maybe it is the culture of toxic forgiveness among Filipinos. 


Roots of the culture of forgiveness among the Filipino nation

This culture of forgiveness traces its roots from the Judeo-Christian theology and Catholic influences injected by our colonizers from the past. The Judeo-Christian ethics of forgiveness is widely cultivated in the minds of most Filipinos, especially as the majority of the Filipinos practice Christianity and Catholicism. As such, forgiving others regardless of their sins is a teaching prescribed by the Church. 


Generally, this has become part of us. It has always been inculcated in our streams of consciousness and embedded in our culture ever since Filipinos are young. But masked behind this is the undeniable drawback of forgiving everything our perpetrators’ actions to the point of forgetting what they did and seemingly absolving them of their crimes. 


How the culture of forgiveness affects the state of nation’s affairs

Dictators have come and passed. Corrupt politicians and insatiable business moguls looting our resources for their own benefits have come and passed. Greedy capitalist ventures veiled under the auspices of “for the people” reforms have come and passed. The obfuscation of common rights to the majority by the rather elite few has come and passed. But it seemed that until now, the same problems remained and are persisting. 


What with rampant push should Filipinos need to prod us enough to realize that we deserve better? That we deserve the best our leaders can give us in our own homeland? That we deserve to be treated as first-class citizens in our own soils? That we deserve to see the products of the improvements our heroes had sought and fought for in the past? 


In the course of history, the Filipino populace has always been divided into two sides in matters of social, political and economic conversations. One sides with the oppressor and the other sides with the knights-in-shining-armor. One forgives and forgets and the other does not forgive. One sides with the winners and the other sides with the defeated. And history tells us that it is almost always the victors who get to write the narrative of a nation. 


The distinct culture of forgiveness, which sometimes veers to the path of perils, only gives authority to those who would want to write their own version of history. And this has always been the case in the Philippines. When we forgive and forget, we tend to categorize these pressing issues in a box of “Done Deals”. In this process, we somehow jeopardize the necessity to demand accountability and liability from our offenders. This same culture only exacerbates the lack of assessment and information-seeking behaviours of most Filipinos who do not seem to be particular in finding the “truth”.  


This can be further explained by the instances when most young Filipinos and dictator apologists nowadays continually paint the then-President Ferdinand Marcos as a “hero”, when in fact our history tells us he is and was the complete opposite. This culture is explained why the Marcoses still live with the stolen billions from the Filipinos during the course of Martial Law and are somehow still left roaming as “free people” in the country. This is explained why most Duterte Die-hard Supporters (DDS) still shrugs President Duterte’s human rights violations away and instead say “there really are collateral damages to the drug war”, collateral damages referring to children being killed by the policemen upon questionable encounters. 


Final thoughts

Whatever the motive is, one thing is sure: a murderer was set free and the family of the victim was left grieving until now, withheld of the resolution if Jennifer Laude’s death has been given justice. 


The writing here and the examination of the culture of forgiveness of Filipinos is not in any way a criticism of the Catholic faith or an introspection into the moulds of Christianity, but rather a question of our morals as Filipinos. As one Filipino lawyer (and of the Christian faith) I have shared conversations with, Filipinos as majority are devout Christians, should separate forgiveness and justice. When we seek justice, it is part of emphasizing that the wrong has been done and thus it solicits consequences. 

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