I am Joseph Scott Pemberton. I’ve been that boy in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ve been in dark alleys, rented rooms, and in the company of strange women. But I was lucky (like you’ve been lucky) that the person who could have harmed either of us just didn’t harm us at that time.
It could have very well been me who attracted the attention of an opportunistic predator in a foreign land whose culture I barely understand. It could have been you whose appearance just perfectly fit the profile of what you had been raised to believe is that of a walking ATM. Or maybe I could have been the kind of person before whom dangling a sexual hook had become as normal as breathing. After all, I am far from typical in dress and personality, and last week we learned that to many, that means I deserve to be had.
My deceiver could have believed that thinking with the wrong head amid the free flowing booze in a darkened hazy bar should cost me my youthful innocence. So he took the opportunity so casually reeling in what was but a fry.
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A great catch nonetheless.
The worst part is that after my identification as a suspect, everyone else treated Joseph Scott the same way – like a bad seed, a pawn of the Evil Imperialist, and a murderous trained killer – instead of someone who was someone’s son, and innocent until proven guilty. Regardless of how you feel about him, Joseph Scott is also someone’s child. He is someone’s partner, brother, and friend. He had some kind of life – one that was changed in an instant by a deceiving person of the world, seven years his senior.
Take one look at the comment sections of news stories and you’ll see that this country’s warmth and kindness we brag about is a joke. It cannot exist when we lack the basic human trait of empathy.
When we say that someone deserves to be condemned (for whatever reason), we play God. We make judgments on something even the gods we worship would not.
Religion aside, when you say out loud that a person deserves vilification and summary judgment, you dare the fates for the same treatment to be delivered to you or to someone you love. When you lack empathy and speak of it, it only means you cannot place yourself in someone else’s shoes. You ask fate to do the favor of reminding you that what your fellow person has been through may also happen to you.
The thing is, it could very well have been you. Don’t say that you could have prevented it by not being in strange places or situations. Don’t say that you don’t do anything to arouse the attention of the opportunistic. Don’t even believe that just because you are an American, no one could possibly hurt you.
Joseph Scott could have been your son, or he could have been your best friend. We’ve all placed ourselves at risk at one point or another. You know that your children go to places you don’t even know. I don’t wish it for you, but always think before you speak because each one of us is only another person’s eye’s twinkle away from being taken advantage of.
I hope that if it happens to your son, no one will judge his skin colour, his job, or whether he behaved as expected of a 19 year old boy. I hope that if it happens to your son, the crowd won’t say it was because he was a trained killer, or that he deserved the deception he suffered for being the red-blooded male that he was.
The price of your life
I pray that if it ever happens to you, your family will seek justice even if going against a judgmental vindictive society and culture is pretty much a lost cause. I hope that your family will be able to grieve quietly and not be bombarded by media reports that your son has been summarily deemed a cold-blooded murderer, or that simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time and chatting up the wrong “woman” was equal in price to your future career in the US Marine Corps.
I hope the media reports don’t make you a headline and already assign “valid” reasons why you deserve to rot in a Philippine jail. I hope they never say it was because you were ten times stronger, because one can’t possibly just be a heterosexual teenage boy in the company of a 26-year-old man presenting himself as a woman.
I hope that when it happens to you, people won’t say that you asked for it. I hope people won’t flood comment sections to say your kind deserves to rot in a squalid prison for being “intolerant” of a person’s fraudulent representation of their “preferred” gender. I hope that in your moments alone spent in your holding cell while you wait for the Philippines’ “justice” system to move along at its characteristically glacial pace, you will be able to see the true colors of your “hosts” who are only too glad to rationalise why you should be held up in effigy, than to question why young Filipino women — and men — routinely swarm around white men in their own land.
I hope your hometown won’t write an article mentioning that you had been the kid that you are — “young, dumb and fulla cum” — after months at sea lusting after what you thought was a young woman – and then say that this youthful folly had made you deserving of the demonisation of an entire nation.
You are Joseph Scott Pemberton.
I hope that if it ever comes to the point when a dude-who-looks-like-a-lady’s grip is on your groin as you are being led to his bed, you count one to ten and overcome the revulsion millions of years of evolution had ingrained in your mind when you suddenly realise who you are with.
I am Joseph Scott Pemberton. You are Joseph Scott Pemberton. The difference between us is that I know that every life is precious and I lament the plight of my brother half a planet away in the midst of a baffling foreign culture as I want others to lament the bind I had gotten myself into while serving my country.
Your lack of concern, your summary and premature assignment of blame, and your passing of judgment only ensures that everyone’s life will be at the hands of a system that has been routinely unjust not only to me but to its own citizens. When you say with so much certainty that some kinds of people deserve to rot in jail for life, you make sure that someone out there believes your kind deserves to rot in jail, too.
[This is an unconventional commentary on Shakira Sison’s article I am Jennifer Laude published on Rappler.com, the 23rd October 2014. Some parts of this article were lifted verbatim in blocks (and italicised for reference) from Sison’s work and its structure, flow, and composition rendered almost identical to her work to emphasize the point of the message the author wishes to convey.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
It is a tragedy; but things happen in our world. The young U.S. Marine with raging hormones; was “decieved” by a woman/man, in a “night of love”, that turned into a “night of tragedy”; according to earlier media reports.
I cannot prejudge the case. So, I reserve my comments…may justice rule…
Yeah, and real justice will be for pemberton because majority of filipinos agree that he didn’t commit the crime but instead was done by the witness “barbie” who is a friend of laude and was there that night. We all know barbie did it because the evidences are pointing towards her but the media is still not reporting about it.
Geez benignO, you’ve got to get over this obsession with Pemberton. It’s getting creepy already.
LOL this is true. I feel like GRP will take whichever side that is NOT Filipino – wrong or right.
I noticed it too. I get that this is sort of like a parody to that rappler commentary. But seriously, does he have to counter every norms and find flaws on evry behavioral perspective of Filipino’s en masse
Nice article!
I get what you’re trying to say, I do. But “opportunistic predator?” and “Walking ATM?” Really?
Until you are actually made to feel like a Walking ATM, I can understand that it sounds like an exaggeration. My husband and I are both half Filipino, have been living here for years and speak the language fluently..but that does not change how we are perceived, not just by outsiders but by extended family as well.
Yes, walking ATM. It’s a standard phrase used jokingly by many foreigners living or visiting the Philippines who are familiar with the place. It is not an uncommon thing to experience.
Yes really. All foreigners there are looked upon as walking ATM machines. Seems to me that Pemberton was paying for sex with a woman not a man. So the transgender guy was looking for nothing more than money. He was engaged to a German who had, you guessed it, money.
I’m not sure what’s being argued here. Of course we need to reserve judgment on a case like this for the courts but I get the feeling that this article justifies the death of Laude at the same time. Is this satirical?
I get the parody of the Rappler article. This includes a ridiculous assertion by you to counter one of hers.
hers: “white men routinely harm brown women in our land.”
yours: “…overcome the revulsion of millions of years of evolution had ingrained in your mind.”
Neither statement is substantiated by a shred of evidence. Both seem to be nothing more than personal prejudice.
Glad you get the parody. It’s a parody but it also isn’t. I wouldn’t have written an article such as the one written by that Rappler chick Shakira Sison even if Pemberton were my own son. Sison’s main point seems to be that Laude enjoys a monopoly on humanity. That’s just idiotic and contradicts the very emo message Sison thought she’d convey to her readers.
By the way, don’t presume to speak for heterosexual men. I personally feel deep revulsion at the thought of having sex with a man and I’d probably feel like killing a transgender who managed to deceive me into thinking he is a woman. The issue here is the wrongness of acting on very natural but personal thoughts and feelings.
Thoughts and feelings are personal and private. Actions that affect others are not. THAT is the CORE issue.
Don’t expect Rappler to go there. Any editorial board which asks its readers what they “feel”; rather than what they “think”, is beyond vapid. Many filipinos and red neck Americans seem incapable of reaching a reasoned conclusion about a topic.
For your information: see Wikipedia: “gay panic defense”.
I find it appalling that these “activist” whine so much about this being a hate crime while completely disregarding the thought that Pemberton wouldn’t have touched HIM had the “transgendered” not made any questionable moves. Those left-leaning whiners actually think their precious Jeniffer is completely innocent from all this! Take about being one-sided.
I’m glad this takes the other, and realer, side of this affair. You know…I was really gonna tear up at this (no homo), until I found out in the end that you just based it off from some narcissistic rappler article (how fun!). Lack of emphaty, intolerance, and vindictiveness…are just some of the many flaws in our culture that I had been putting up with all my life. You just summarized in one article the influence you’ve had on me, Mr. Benign0. I will see to it that this influence be repayed someday (oh, y’all shall see).
I still want justice to be served here, however. No matter how it happened, a crime is still a crime and must therefore be paid for. Be it a “crime passionel”, manslaughter or genuine murder Pemberton should be thrown to jail for killing Laude. Simple as that.
Pemberton didn’t kill jennifer, it was her/his friend “barbie” who did it. All the evidence are pointing right at her/him (since this barbie isnt a real woman either), if u were a filipino like me you’d know
You might right about it. If the mother of Jennifer claims that her son loss some money Joseph Scott won’t bother to take that maybe the friend of Jennifer did.
I read something about this affair recently. An American soldier came up as a witness saying that this “Barbie” came to him drunk(supposedly) and told him his “friend”(Pemberton) killed Jeniffer. Thinking the girly-boy was drunk, he must have thought it was nothing. Later, the receptionist(was it?) would find Laude’s boy.
Something odd about this ha? If you think so, consider yourself intelligent. If this Barbie found out a marine killed his (or her, whatever) friend Jeniffer then why wasn’t (s)he all frantic? Wouldn’t (s)he have run around the hotel screaming for help? Why would he tell the incident only to a soldier (two soldiers in fact, from what I’ve read) passing by and just leave afterwards? Why would the body be finally brought to light instead by another person AFTER Barbie? Strange stuff.
If our justice system would be fair enough, a simple lie-detector test on Barbie could uncover something.
yea, but you don’t kill the person.
we’ve all been fooled by strange and predatory people. he killed the person. if there is no evidence of self defense and the issue could have not been settled by other means, then there is no excuse.
Jail.
well, at least some logical comments in the end.
People tend to forget the “Bill of Rights”, once the idiot activists start screaming. These are the same activists who scream foul, and demand their rights, when it’s their butts on the line.
pffft….
RIP, Laude. Jeffrey Jennifer was wrong for deceiving Pemberton. Pemberton didn’t have to kill Jeffrey Jennifer, though. Didn’t they find a condom with semen & fecal material in their motel room? Pembi drilled Jeff Jenn in the hiney?
I still don’t see an article taking sides on Noynoy’s statement regarding his visit (or lack thereof) to Laude’s wake. I’d like to see it, but it’s easy to imagine Noynoy as a rock, Laude as a hard place, and GRP’s previous stances on both people condemning it between said rock and hard place.
(Which is probably why I wouldn’t see it — better to hate both Noynoy and Laude than be seen agreeing with either of them, as (gasp!) it messes with the Noynoy-the-scheming-dolt and Laude-the-homo-trickster portrayals real badly, yeah?)
I get it, but in the end. If he was the victim, who is dead now? He should have just kicked his ass and stormed out. No matter how younger he was than the guy, murder is murder. A mistake is made, he should answer for it. If it is up to the courts, then let it be so. People are quick to judge, but it not up to us, because we don’t have the power at all. In the end, what people say is not important and justice must be served.
Yes, well, tough shit Joey. You killed someone when a good swift puch in the face and kick in the ass would have sufficed. Was your ‘massive ego’ so dreadfully hurt that you could not get over the fact that you were in fact attracted to a guy dressed as a hot chick? was that it? U could not allow yourself to be fooled, so had to take the nastiest action possible and kill the guy?
Sorry Joey Pemberton, you are a murdering asshole and the only reason your gonna get away with what you did is because you are a U.S. Marine in a country that can’t really do much about the fact that you will get away with it, if the U.S Marines want you to get away with it.Look Joe, you have started a big shit storm of trouble. You should have just done anything, anything, besides murder the guy.
Being afraid you would have been laughed at by your buddies? For being such a greenie that you couldn’t tell a ‘she-boy’ from a real chick? so you had to kill the guy? Your a murderer Joe, and lucky to be a U.S. Marine in such a shit country that cant do anything about it.If you pulled this shit in Canada, you’d be fucked !
BUT Joe, you still have the right to a fair trial, and I want t know what happened to the only witness and make sure that you, Joe Pemberton, are not being framed for something you did not do.
I love you for this comment.
Jennifer who was in a relationship with a German or should I say, who was engaged shouldn’t be in a motel room with someone else. I’m just saying.
But then, he/she didn’t deserve to die.
Lets just hope for a fair trial.
Either A or B:
A) German fiance’s monthly financial support wasn’t enough by Laude’s standard, so Laude rented his/her mouth & butt-hole to boost his/her finances.
B) German fiance gave Laude so much money every month. More than what he/she & his/her family needed, but Laude’s addicted to white foreigner penis & baby batter, and being faithful to the German fiance didn’t mean squat.
Nailed it. Simple as that.
After their sex, Laude may have confided to Pemberton that she* is a transvestite. Pemberton got so enraged that he just fucked a shemale. That made him beat the hell out of Laude and dunked her* face into the toilet bowl. Pemberton intended only to beat Laude but, in the act of rage, Pemberton exerted more force and unintentionally killed Laude. Pemberton may have even tried to revive Laude in vain and left the place in panic. So, Laude’s killing could be unintentional.
A straight guy may also maul Laude for his action. I, myself, will punch her* in the face if I am in the position of Pemberton.
Benigno u quoted the vendetta movie. You are a fake and a plagiarizer. What are you tying to prove with your fake lines. You can fool your fellow filipinos,but no not us americans. You should be shamed and jailed
Nah. That quote is from the 1986 movie Heartbreak Ridge starring Clint Eastwood. Idiot.
Monkey…
So you do admit to plagiarism benigno. I know in your country there is a law against cyber crime aint it? You should be accused of plagiarism, fraud and theft. True to form you admit that you stole the idea. It is your law. So any body here who has a sense of righteousness should report you. If there still any righteousness left in your country. To anyone let it be known benigno admitted that he stole the idea from another source.
Laws ??? in this country ??? you are out of your mind !
Oh, sure laws are on the books. Good luck enforcing them. At best they are a recommendation.
You know nothing of this country. Have you ever even been a mall here?? seen the DVD’s on sale everywhere.. and you talk copy right laws ?? you my friend are a retard. And most likely have never set foot in this country. Quoting is not against the law… again..retard.
You spout laws in this country ?? you are kidding.. right?? Or are you a retard.
Have you ever been to a mall here?. Just look at the DVD’s for sale everywhere and then talk of copy right laws.
At best the laws here a recommendation.
Bet you have never set foot in this country as you know squat. And quoting is against no laws. STFU.
justakano Laws are for civilize people not for monkeys like you. Surely your laws are laughable not to mention you filipinos have no obedience. Ive been to your malls so whats your point? What are you driving at? Are you telling me that rampant pirated paraphernalia means lawlessness in your country? Thats why we Americans wont trust our own with you. I bet you cant even leave your bag out in the open less than 5 mins because you cant trust each other. Your a land of thieves. We know everything about you people. Quoting should be done properly you retard monkey.
@ Joe: It seems you ARE just that thick.
Okay let me spell it out so even someone with you’re IQ can get it.
First off you missed the hint from my username. (justakano) Just-A-Kano.
Get it now?? Kano = Amerikano as in American. Yes I am an American foolish enough to have retired to this lawless country.
My point?? Christ you are dumb. So I will explain once again. For the most part it seems we agree there are no laws here only suggestions. With no enforcement of laws that is all one has. Right???
So I use the example of pirate movies in a very public place like a mall, with guards and police everywhere. No one cares that there are obvious pirate movies for sale along with dare I say 75% of the other knock-off name brand products in said shopping mall. Do you get it now?? So if you wish to harass benign0 about copyright infringement when clearly there is none. Only parody and some quotes.
You are free to head down to you’re local PNP station and report it if you wish. Good luck. I am sure they will give your report all the attention it deserves.
@ justakano nah, I notice your username; i simply ignore it and im still ignoring it. Your street sweeping reason is just monkey brain fart. I bet you sleep with monkeys too.
I understand the situation in your country far more than you do. Because you monkeys so use to living in shitty conditions and you chose to live in a lie.
About Your sample argument of dvds in malls,
What are you twelve or just monkey?I know how feudal the country is far more worst than your dvds. I wont even bother to send emails to your country officials being primitive and all. You dont have any sense of laws.
Unless your read it right before you stupidly butt in like a monkey. Benigno already admitted that he stole it from a different source.
Your arguement is unequivocal monkey thinking I think your a monkey too pretending to be like us humans. Do you think we will save you from your biggest threat? I dont think so monkey. Just live your monkey lying life.
Nope. The text is enclosed in quotes.
I dont think so, you just admit that you stole from an original source. You should have thought of that from the beginning genious before putting that on print. We know how incompetent you are thats why we dont trust you to guard our own. We just want you to sit on the sides and let your ego marinade so you get the feeling that your still part of the team, you follow monkey?
Sure. Whatever you say.
The guy lost control and murdered someone or they may be doing kinky S&M stuff where the other dude died, who knows? A lot of psychoanalysis, viewpoint storytelling, and event theories going around that it’s already spawned an almost MMK storyline.
The point here is that J.S. Pemberton has the blood of his fellow human on his hands and justice should be met out.
If you would just know that 90% of filipinos are mad at jennifer laude and her family. We all believe that joseph is innocent and that the witness “barbie” is who we believe as the real suspect, and we feel sad for joseph scott that if it does come out as this his reputation got damaged as well as his life all just because he wanted to have a good time and was caused by a transwoman. We are hoping and praying that the truth will come out and that real justice will be served for pemberton
Amen, brother. Free Joseph Scott Pemberton!!!
U see Benign0, you make sense when you are not bias.
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/ispeak/72727-shakira-sison-jennifer-laude
why is this article the same with rappler? but rappler just had Jennifer Laude point of view?
satire.
Read the disclaimer at the end of the article.
Must agree with all the write ups of Benigno re Pemberton. A US serviceman is involved, so again the rant, the high-pitched noise, the kerfuffle among bloggers and pundits. We all want to have a say on the issue. What I don’t know is if this is reflective of a national inferiority complex. What is the conversation really about? Do we want to feel that we are free of a colonial past and simply like rubbing-in our independence vis-a-vis our former colonizer? (Is this the irritating “pinoy pride” we see in comboxes of sites featuring Filipina singing sensations in international competitions? How does this pinoy pride thing add to a sustainable growth for the country?) Or, are we that obtuse as to think we are in parity with the US if we are able to lock up Pemberton in one of our typically squalid cells? Or, do we have a mentality we cannot shed, a servile mentality, that knows nothing except whine about a terrible master, and are thus clueless as to what to do with independence even with decades gone by?
Maybe, all of the above albeit more of the latter. Why? Because we consistently prefer leaders who feel they can get away with incompetence and corruption. Observe these leaders and you no doubt see blokes who not only feel they are entitled to their positions, but who consciously or unconsciously convey by their words and actions that Filipinos are their stupid properties. Just pick any. Erap, the ex-convict, who still had the gall to be mayor? Gloria, the mafia mama, who remains a member of Congress?
BS Aquino, who has the kapalmuks to be president even if he was an absolute non performer in his earlier positions? Isn’t he really just a brat who thought, thinks, and is still convinced the presidency is all about catchy slogans, convoluted speeches and sneaky PR campaigns? (Although this is out of topic here, a word is irresistible about PNoy claiming the economy grew under his watch. Hahaha, that has to be the joke of his legacy. His fiscal and monetary policies are the exact photocopies of Gloria’s policies. So, who should get credit for the growth? Point is PNoy has attracted less FDI than any of his predecessors.) Then, there is the flavor of the month, Beep Beep Binay, ang Kawawang Billyonaryo? Etc, etc… all the way to the lowest baranggay captain. In this feudal land of ours at the edge of the Pacific, I dont know why ignorance, mendicancy… or the “bili-mo-ako” mentality …is so magnetic as to be the character you would encounter by the dozen. We are suckers of forms. Not only can we not stand substance, we have no idea what that is.
Thus, it’s fascinating, if it is not preposterous, that in a land where the media feeds the populace with murder for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that a murder in some sleazy part of town is now being chosen as a counterpose to a treaty. Don’t we have any other way? If indeed the treaty is disadvantageous to us, can we not wait to find a more appropriate reason without advertising in HD colors to the whole world that part of us which is so sleazy?? Please imagine a New York Times, USA Today or Al Jazeera — Philippines mulling over defence pact as their Jeffrey mulled whether he would hang on to a pegina or a vanis.
Oh gosh, if only we could all try to be leaders even with just our own lives and our little circles of influences. Then, we will be seeking interdependence rather than independence at all cost or dependence with equal malice. Then there is no need to be upset about things we should not be upset about. Then there could be more silent confidence that justice will always prevail because we can discern what is right and what is wrong, collectively. Then, there could also be less “senti” about criticisms. I worked in an office with lots of Pinoys and lots of foreigners, and I can say, if they are not flabbergasted, foreigners will never understand a Pinoy’s reaction to criticism.
In any event, never mind the Lefties. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, they no longer have a leg to stand on. Thus, if only to maintain a semblance of relevance in a world that has changed, they will continue to attack the US no matter what. And they will do that even if they are holding straws as with this case which has no international bearing. Remember that the CPP/NPA is still wealthy; their businesses in kidnap for ransom, illegal logging, smuggling, extortion, etc, remain strong. Look, one account of JoMa in Holland maintains a running balance of US$85 million. So these guys who are the permanent fixtures in every street rally in Manila may have to be part of such mass actions….or they risk losing their share from the money accumulated by CPP in their shift to banditry. You know, as some of them have become congressmen, they also talk as such now: “Aba, sayang din yun “PDAF” na pinapadala ni JoMa at ng CPP” It is therefore disconcerting that media still gives these guys space to hyperventilate their ever repetitious and irrelevant gripes.
Well, I better stop now as I might be contributing to an ever useless hyperventilation from the Left just by adding to the clutter of noise about Laude.
I’ll disagree with you on this one, Benign0
*Wrong place, wrong time? how many times did i heard that phrase before.
*Your hypothesis about public apathy/disdain by pointing out those “comment sections” on news media is one lazy generalization.You know what kind of crap spews online especially with controversial stories such as this. Hello internet.
*revulsion to the point of committing murder? really…idk about you dude, but that’s your own opinion and it screams some underlying macho bull**. You have intercourse with an assumed woman-and later on you figured out she has a penis and you killed that person on the spur of the moment because you felt violated. Sure, it warrants feelings of antagonism towards that person to the point of having homicidal tendencies. The thing is, if he indeed acted on this “feelings” then that would we be an overt exaggeration on his part. Let’s wait until the end trial though.
When i learned that he was just 19yrs old I was surprised since I thought he was older but regardless of personal background, culture, and religion, most nineteen years old’s have one thing in common, —-that is common sense.He joined the marines and survived the ordeal of initial training ,away from his momma’s pancakes and the convenience of doing his laundry.
Does he deserve all this public scrutiny and vindication? no ,not all it. But I cant blame those folks because the incident causes the death of one of our own people regardless of the victim’s sexual preference.Laude’s death involves a foreigner, a US serviceman at that. A guest in our homeland. It triggers memories from the past to resurfaced especially because it questions our own national jurisdiction and where we stand on the matter.
This country is a struggle for LGBT itself and transsexual pinays are getting the volumes in the hate spectrum. Catholicism and orthodox practices is a major part of our society, and homophobia, bigotry, misogyny coexist with it all. But thats a different story
Homophobia = A guy beating the shit out of a gay guy for no reason at all.
(Gay person was minding his own business)
Not Homophobia = A normal guy who finds the mere thought of having sex
with another man disgusting and offensive.
Homophobia – the extreme revulsion to homosexual persons to the point of cruelty or murderous rage.
This IS homophobia. Unless you’re somehow implying that the natural reaction of a straight man to finding out that he’s been touched by a gay man is to kill him?
Is that what they teach in church nowadays?
To all you homophobic hillbillies:
To be mislead justifies murder – really????
I don’t get why you have to discuss “empathy” here. Have you ever had a family member killed by anyone regardless of its nationality?
The only reason I can think of why you empathize to to this man is because you have a family member who already killed someone.
and i don’t understand all this “outrage” over a murder victim where there is a daily barrage of heinous crimes more abominable to the laude case committed to some poor unknown schmuck in the philippines and people act like it’s a normal thing to dismiss and not let it get in the way of their selfies and assorted photos of food. if i had someone close to me murdered during the week laude died i’d be very furious as to why that case deserves more “outrage” from mine. face it,people are just latching on to this because of grandstanding. “EMPATHY” is the last thing you retards feel about it.
So Laude’s life is less important than theirs because she’s transgender? And we should all just ignore what happened and what. Maybe set Pemberton free too? Give him a medal maybe?
The reason for this “outrage” is EXACTLY because of people like you who think it’s worth nothing because bakla siya. Ilan na bang baklang pinatay din ng ganito? Ignorante kasi pa rin ang mga pilipino. Trato nila sa mga bakla at tomboy, parang hindi na sila tao.
Yan ang totoong issue dito. Hindi ang pagpatay sa isang tao, kundi ang kitid ng mga utak ninyo. Kung babae yung pinatay, lahat kayo I’m sure defend agad.
Forget about my comment, I should have finish the article down to the credits.
I like this website in general, but in this case the author shows his lack of being a professional journalist and writes with his bigoted biases about transgender people. Either that or his comments are based on homophobic tendencies which should be repressed in writing a balanced article. Sure, there is something wrong with falsely masquerading as a woman, if that was the case. But at the same time it never can be an excuse for an alledged murder.
At the same time the author criticizes those for pre-judging Pemberton, he does not hold the same ideals when commenting about what was in Laude’s mind. You also have no idea about what took place yet you make statements proclaiming to know such.
It’s best that we let the justice system go through its due process before commenting further about this unfortunate series of events that led to someone’s death.
To those that call this satire, it’s hardly so and should not be desribed as such. I hope you publish these comments as I really love your site as it tackles the issues that people take so seriously normally and exposes the frailties of the Philippines and the betrayal of its people by the governemnt quite well.
As I said in the footer text, this work is really a tit-for-tat response to Sison’s Rappler article where a similarly one-sided take on the incident was described. So this article is just as one-sided as Sison’s but in favour of Pemberton.
So there is a meta-point I make here that you obviously missed. But to be fair, a lot of other readers here missed it too.
Did Pemberton get upset that the lady-boy would not top him? Some marines have a propensity to be bottom in man-man sex, so just wondering? What caused the alleged murderous rage?
That disgusting human probably didn’t deserve death, but a dislocated jaw and dislodged teeth for sure.
Amputated arms and legs would’ve sufficed; also an organ donation: eyes, kidneys, heart, and blood.
Reading comments like this makes me incredibly ashamed to be Filipino right now. Lahat nang propaganda na kind tayo at mapagmahal, puro kasinungalingan. Kung magsalita kayo daig nyo pa ang ISIS. Congrats. You deserve whatever state the country is in right now.
“Take one look at the comment sections of news stories and you’ll see that this country’s warmth and kindness we brag about is a joke. It cannot exist when we lack the basic human trait of empathy.”
This country’s warmth and kindness for ‘foreigners’?
This country’s warmth and kindness for fellow filipinos?
“We lack the basic human trait of empathy?”
Everybody treats everybody like shit everyday!
If somebody kills somebody, def. its a crime, that person needs to rot in jail.
Fuck Homos in general; but not in the literal manner. Yuck! 😀
I was in the Navy for 20 years. Have been to the Philippines many times. I don’t quite understand what the Filipino people have their panties all in a bunch about. THEY treat EACH other like garbage! I have seen Filipinos kill each other over the smallest sleight and spit on the corpse. I have seen Filipinos fight to the death for $100 and cheer and grin when they won/killed the other guy. Most don’t value each others’ lives…but they’re all up in arms about an American Marine killing a Benny-Boy?!? Virtually every Filipino I’ve ever known, considers Benny-Boys (transexuals) to be the lowest life form…yet, here they’re protesting? I’m NOT saying it’s right to murder a transgender, what I’m saying is that the people who are going apoplectic over this are being disingenuous (faux angry Filipino’s) or ignorant (non-Filipino’s) over their anger because most Filipinos I know would just shrug and say “oh well.”
I am Joseph’s lawyer. Thank you for the articles you wrote about the Laude case. Let me share a thought with Joseph’s and VFA’s haters— When Jeffrey chose to lead the life of a con-artist sex worker who preyed on, and made money from deceiving unsophisticated young men, he entered a field of work prone to violence and put his own life at risk. My client, JSP, had a bright future ahead of him and he chose to serve his country. My client is exactly the naive type of young man that frauds like Jeffrey count on to earn their criminal living. My client was victimized by Jeffrey’s fraudulent actions. He did not consent to sex with a gay person. It is con-artists like Jeffrey, and other sex workers, who cause problems for our two countries and the VFA, not the American service members who fail to recognize these people for who they are until it is too late. The VFA did not cause Jeffrey’s death. Jeffrey’s decision to become a sex worker is what led to his death so it is not right to blame the VFA for what happened. It also isn’t right to deceive American service members and then solely blame them for what follows. I am not conceding that JSP killed Jeffrey, but merely pointing out that the fight was the result, among others, of the deception. The defense provided more than sufficient evidence to demonstrate reasonable doubt that JSP was the one who killed Jeffrey.
I don’t condemn Jeffrey because he was a sex worker, but growing up poor does not give one the right to earn a living by deceiving another human being.
What a stupid article, you can say the same thing about any criminal. you don’t murder someone because they challenge your insecurity about your sexuality. someone deceived you.leave. you don’t murder them.
It was another person who kill and wanted the dollar of the service man.
Can we throw a tent over this circus please. The verdict….guilty beyond reasonable doubt…..Bogus…there was plenty of reasonable doubt in this case. Did anyone actually see Pemberton kill the tranny?….reasonable doubt! The door was left ajar, anyone could have entered that room after Pemberton left.
Let me focus on the Laude family…From the delusional mother Laude, “Boo Hoo Hoo, we are strong Catholics who pray before every meal but where was our God when my Daughter who I spent my life raising, was being killed”
1.) Um….Your daughter was a Dude. Where do you think your F***ing god was?
2.) Hence, your son was a manipulating, lying, deceitful man-whore who needs to be aware of the consequences that may befall a gay man when playing around in the heterosexual world. Where do you think your F***ing god was?
3.) Your Son was a money hungry opportunist who did not consider the consequences of his actions on the 19 year boy’s future who he lured in. Where do you think your F***ing god was?
4.) If you are such a devote Catholic I’m sure you know how high the Catholic religion holds the ten commandments….Where do you think your F***ing god was?
Delusional NUT CASES= the Laude family.
LGBT Activist….”we have rights they claim”….I agree you do have rights as humans but those rights DO NOT include being able to deceive a non gay human into a sexual situation….at least not without accepting the consequences for your actions.
Was there justice in this case? NO! Was this case a political chess game using Pemberton as a pawn? Perhaps.
FREE Joseph Scott Pemberton and bring him home. That will be my crusade until he is freed and brought home. In addition, if Joseph Scott Pemberton feels his bright future has been eliminated because of this debauchery, my foundation will insure he will get his chance at the bright future.