Laude siblings seek SC help in Pemberton transfer to city jail

The sisters of slain transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude on Thursday sought the Supreme Court’s help in transferring murder suspect US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton from Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to the Olongapo City Jail.

In their petition, Marilou and Mesehilda Laude asked the high tribunal to reverse two orders from Judge Roline Jinez-Jabalde of the Olongapo Regional Trial Court Branch 74 denying their request to transfer  Pemberton's custody from an American military facility inside Camp Aguinaldo to a city jail.

The petitioners said Jabalde committed grave abuse of discretion when she dismissed a request to compel the Armed Forces of the Philippines to surrender custody of Pemberton the Olongapo City Jail on mere technicalities.

They also said that under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Philippines should have primary jurisdiction over Pemberton while his case is being tried by a Philippine court.

Jabalde denied the Laude family’s urgent motion for violating the three-day rule under Section 4, Rule 15 and Sec. 5, Rule 10 of the Rules of Court, requiring the conformity of the public prosecutor in any pleading filed by a private complainant.

The Laude camp said there should be a “liberal interpretation” of the three-day rule, and that the conformity of Olongapo City Chief State Prosecutor Emilie delos Santos was “a mere superfluity, considering that she refused  to sign it, despite a contrary manifestation of the secretary of Justice.”

In their petition, the Laude siblings also asked the high court to declare the portion of the VFA that “impairs the constitutional power of the Supreme Court to promulgate rules for practice before it, including the Rules of Criminal Procedure.”

They requested the SC to issue a writ of mandatory injunction ordering Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, AFP chief Gregorio Pio Catapang jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, and prosecutor Delos Santos to “immediately work out and effect” Pemberton’s turnover while he is being tried for murder by the Olongapo court.

The Laudes said the Philippine government’s refusal to have Pemberton transferred to a city jail was “unconstitutional on the ground that it undermines the constitutional powers of courts to hear a jurisdictional matter brought before it.”

“More importantly, it undermines the court’s powers to promulgate rules for the practice of law,” the petitioners said.

Pemberton is accused of killing 26-year-old Laude, who was found dead inside a lodge in Olongapo City on Oct. 11, 2014. The two were last seen entering the lodge after meeting in a bar.

Pemberton was earlier transferred from the US Navy ship USS Peleliu docked in Subic to a US facility in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The  killing of Laude revived anti-US sentiments, including calls for the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreeement between the Philippines and the United States.

The VFA, ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999, allows American troops to take part in large-scale military exercises with their Philippine counterparts in the country. —KBK, GMA News