De Lima: PHL working to get custody of Pemberton

Even after his transfer to a detention facility inside Camp Aguinaldo, the Philippine government is working to get custody over US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said on Wednesday.

De Lima said the Philippines could insist on having custody over Pemberton, the suspect in the killing of Filipino transgender woman Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude, despite a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) provision giving the US government immediate custody, upon request, over its personnel implicated in a crime committed in the country.

"[The] Philippine government has also the discretion to insist further on his continued custody by citing compelling reasons," De Lima said as she admitted that the Presidential Commission on the VFA Commission, Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice were working on getting custody over the US Marine.

"[Quietly], tina-trabaho ng VFA Comm, ng DFA, kasama ang DoJ. Trinabaaho yan quietly through diplomatic channels. Kaya walang katotohanan yung sinasabi nila na hindi gumagalaw ang gobyerno sa usaping ito," she added.
 

De Lima said that "theoretically" the US government could upon request get immediate custody over Pemberton under Article 5 Section 6 of the VFA.

 

The VFA provision states: "The custody of any US personnel whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with the United States military authorities, if they so request, from the commission of the offense until the completion of all judicial proceedings."

 

De Lima said the decision by the Philippine government to continuously hold Pemberton should no longer reach the level of President Benigno Aquino III.

"Unless may decision na hindi na kaya sa level ng VFA commission, hanggat maaari hindi na dapat pinaaanot sa level ng Pangulo," De Lima said.

 

Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano earlier expressed his opinion that the VFA provision indicated the Philippine government should have primary custody over a US serviceman implicated in a crime, and the custody should remain with the Philippines until requested by the US government. 

 

"Kapag in-interpret mo iyong law, dapat talaga pati custody sa atin.... Iyong sinabi kasing request, ang implication noon, tayo talaga dapat ang may primary custody," Justiniano said.

 

Justiniano was in 2005 the legal counsel for Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, a US serviceman who was found guilty in 2006 of raping a Filipino woman in Subic, Zambales. Smith was acquitted by the Court of Appeals after his accuser took back her allegations of rape. —NB, GMA News