United States Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton was only 19 when he had the misfortune of crossing paths with cross-dresser Jeffrey Laude (a.k.a. “Jennifer”) while on shore leave in the Philippines in 2014. The encounter left Laude dead and Pemberton in prison in the Philippines since.
At 26 years old at the time, the late transgender Jeffrey Laude was seven years Pemberton’s senior. Laude had evidently deceived the young heterosexual Pemberton who, presumably, was looking forward to a roll in the sack with a Filipino woman after months at sea. Indeed, Laude’s companion on the night of his death, Mark Clarence Gelviro, was reportedly asked by Laude “to leave before the foreigner could discover that they were transgenders.”
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It was later also revealed that Laude was engaged to a German national who he reportedly met on the Internet — information Laude’s family seemingly withheld from the public in the first statements they released to the media following the discovery of Laude’s remains.
Most appalling of all is the way the Philippine media behaved which, to be fair, is expected of an industry that sees The Scoop as the be all end all. They went all out splashing photos of the uncovered body of Laude on their front pages. One meme showed the photos next to the message, “The VFA (Philippines–United States Visiting Forces Agreement) did this!”
Most normal people would of course find it baffling that a mother would allow such images of her deceased child to be showcased in this way. Most self-respecting publishers as well wouldn’t go as far as exhibiting such bad taste in journalism. But like everything else in the Philippines, notions of what constitutes being “normal” are, well, not normal.
One can easily see the threads of dishonesty that lace the circumstances surrounding Jeffrey Laude’s person even as he is put up as the “good” victim and Pemberton made out to be the “evil” antagonist in this drama. But is Pemberton really the vile beast he is made out to be?
In a report published by the American news site South Coast Today, Pemberton is described by his uncle as “a really good kid” while a neighbour called him “a friendly person” and recalled his last memory of the boy “walking home from school and just waving as I was cutting the grass”. According to the report, Pemberton graduated in 2013 from technical school majoring in metal fabrication and joining. Hardly the monster Filipino “activists” would like him to be regarded as, right?
Philippine President Rodrigo clearly agrees.
Duterte on Monday said he decided to grant absolute pardon to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton because the Philippines “did not treat him fairly.”
Indeed, between Pemberton and the parties representing and supporting Laude, it is Pemberton who had represented his case in a transparent and straightforward manner. The Laude camp, on the other hand, is one characterised by lies and deceit. Six years is a long time for a young man to lose — specially one who was only beginning what could have been a promising career as a US Marine.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Whores do their thing more honestly than transgenders who cheat and lie and just cannot control themselves. Any man, unless he is a transgender himself, will be outraged by someone posing as a woman when in fact he is every bit a man. Even in sex, or when soliciting sex, it is important that each participant knows what he is in for; after all it takes two to tango.
Pemberton was a victim of deceit by the transgender Luade…the Sailor was burning with hormones, and just wanted some woman companion, to release his hormones…instead, he got a transgender man, who was posing as a woman…
And these stupid activists, who are addicted to rallies and issues to contend with, have capitalized on the Pemberton – Laude case, to feed on their addictions…I thank Pres. Duterte for giving absolute pardon to Pemberton. This American young man has wasted some years of his life, for such stupid incident.
The Pemberton case is Closed…let us all Move On !
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It might have felt like rape for Pemberton. Even when there’s no contact the experience is horrifying. It is indeed unfortunate for both of them.
While I am no fan of Filipino chismosa media, you would be surprised how much the “oh he’s a good (white) kid” card gets played in American media, even for completely domestic cases where the kid committed a mass murder. As for the victim, the real tragedy is that our hardened religious conservative society relegates people with dysphoria to the world’s oldest professions rather than helping them deal with their dysphoria.
You’d think that a “do the crime get punished” President that wants to end the VFA would want to keep him locked up. I guess that’s what they call the ‘white privilege’ then, isn’t it.
So this means its much easier to get away with murder in the Philippines than in my country.
Not really; Pemberton was only convicted of homicide – as the case did not meet the standards for murder.
Compare this with first world Scandinavian standards: In the 2011 Norway attacks, Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison for murdering 77 people (or roughly 3 months per premeditated kill). Now that’s what’s called a slap on the wrist.
I would agree Pemberton had paid enough – esp. considering that fact that a deceiving Filipino transgender is totally NOT worth rotting in jail for the rest of one’s promising American life for.
Was there a trial? Did he plea guilty? He killed a human being. Its irrelevant what the victim was. Heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or whatever. He just got pissed off because he fell for the trap. I dont know what the US army will do (or did)? Maybe dishonorably discharged? Anyway, he is still young enough to start a complete new different career although I doubt whether he can do anything else (job wise).
Well, Travis Kraft (the local Superman) may have some good career advice; maybe like taking on the local version of Doctor Strange. Considering the shortage of handsome hunks (who are not gay) in the country, Mr. Pemberton will be more than welcome. So it may just end well for him after all if he happens to land on a genuine Pinay wife with authentic reproductive organs should he pursue this promising career in PH showbiz.
Why no mention that Pemberton gave the Laude family around $100,000 USD as well? After that was done, just before he was about to be released, the Laude family got a court appeal to make him stay in jail. It would have been a more genuine attempt if they refused to accept the blood money, but naturally they took the money, and then tried to keep him in a longer legal battle.
“In a report published by the American news site South Coast Today, Pemberton is described by his uncle as “a really good kid” while a neighbour called him “a friendly person” and recalled his last memory of the boy “walking home from school and just waving as I was cutting the grass”. According to the report, Pemberton graduated in 2013 from technical school majoring in metal fabrication and joining. Hardly the monster Filipino “activists” would like him to be regarded as, right?”
The above statement, as I see it, is nothing more but an appeal to emotion… to sort of soften the impact and implications of the incident. While that report may probably ring true among Pemberton’s fans and to this community, that he is “a really good kid”, still, in spite of the claimed deceit by Laude, he committed an act of crime as an adult because of his horniness.
Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer, was also been described as someone “mild-mannered and charming”.
Cheat, deceit vs. the crime of killing another human being. Which one should carry more weight in terms of responsibility and penalty? What you choose is a matter of your own personal legal and moral view and perception.
As for the President, being calculating and diplomatically Machiavellian, something more is behind the decision. Hope his end (the national interest) would justify the means.
A promising career as a US marine.Sure. It’s hard for me to say how I would have acted in in his place. But I wonder if somebody like Mr. Pemberton, who supposedly has military discipline, could have handled himself better. The same is also an issue with the police force. A black guy protester in the US said something about how the military and police could be trained better in handling violence and using force.
Issues here:
1. You barely touched on the killing here. No doubt that Laude deceived him, but does that justify the killing? It’s incredibly frustrating on Pemberton’s end, but he still had a conscious mind on how to act. Laude is no saint, but I don’t think that is a reason to absolve Pemberton. It was not done in an accident; it was still a killing – specifically a manslaughter so to speak.
2. You are using anecdotes from people close to him to justify your stance. Nevermind the very fact that he killed someone; his uncle and neighbor said he was a good kid and surely that is enough to nullify criticisms toward Pemberton, right? Ted Bundy was nice and polite on the surface too, and in the background, we now know the serial killer he is. Would you be arguing “Oh, but Ted Bundy was a nice guy according to his friend” when people point out his murders?
okay, just wondering why do people here lumping Pemberton to Ted Bundy. the latter was straight up psycho, Pemberton on the hand wasn’t killing for pleasure. i dont really get the comparison here.
Bottom line is that a person’s “niceness and politeness” is not enough to nullify a person’s crimes, whether it be murder for pleasure like Bundy, or homicide in the heat of passion like Pemberton. Granted, Pemberton’s case wasn’t premeditated unlike Bundy’s, but Laude’s death was a direct consequence of actions that Pemberton still willfully did. I agree that lifetime imprisonment is a little overkill for Pemberton (because it was a homicide and not a murder), but surely, total absolution is quite ridiculous, isn’t it?