Tighter security for Pemberton

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton (left) and Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude

MANILA –Since the transfer of detained US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton to Camp Aguinaldo, security has been tightened.

Pembenton was recently accused of killing Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Olongapo.

However, Armed Forces Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said that the changes in security were all part of their security protocol and enforced at all military camps.

“(The deployment of additional sentries) is in line with the security measures to protect our military facilities around the country,” Cabunoc explained.

It can be recalled that last week, the security personnel were caught off guard when Laude’s family, led by lawyer Harry Roque, were able to enter the camp easily to demand to see Pemberton and even reach the boundary of the Joint United States Advisory (JUSMAG) compound.

Laude’s German fiancé Marc Suselbeck and his sister were able to climb over the fence before they were stopped. Suselbeck was even seen shoving a soldier who tried to stopped them.

The day after, security was doubled by former Filipino UN peacekeepers.

On the other hand, Laude’s mother and sisters are urging the Bureau of Immigration to confiscate the passport of Pemberton and to proclaim him an undesirable alien.

“The murder of our loved one violates Philippine law and is a gross disrespect to what we hold dear as a people. His gruesome murder of a citizen should be enough a justification to declare him an undesirable alien of the most repulsive kind,” they said in a letter to BI Commissioner Siegfred Mison.

They also said that Pemberton should attend deportation hearings.

“Until now, we have not seen even just his shadow. Police investigators had been unable to obtain his fingerprints and buccal samples for DNA testing,” they said.

They added, “His being placed at a facility inside Camp Aguinaldo is an arrogant flaunting of the rule of law; every day that he is shielded from accountability, we allow impunity to reign. Every day that he is placed beyond the pale of our criminal laws, we allow someone to abuse in the most revolting way the welcome our country has accorded him.”

Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that the BI already started deportation proceedings against Pemberton.