{"id":30380,"date":"2014-10-21T08:19:37","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T00:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=30380"},"modified":"2014-11-03T08:23:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T00:23:10","slug":"laude-murder-case-lawyer-claims-hes-being-stalked-by-us-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/21\/laude-murder-case-lawyer-claims-hes-being-stalked-by-us-spy\/","title":{"rendered":"Laude murder case lawyer claims he\u2019s being stalked by ‘US spy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Human<\/a>
Human rights lawyer Atty. Harry Roque (www.harryroque.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights lawyer Harry Roque, lead counsel of killed Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, on Monday said that an \u2018American spy\u2019 has been following him around since he took the murder case last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince arriving in Olongapo on Wednesday, when we finished discussing the case with the [Laude] family and I started my own investigation, everywhere I went, there was an American man who was following me,\u201d Roque told reporters in an interview last Friday.<\/p>\n

Roque said he would notice the \u2018spy\u2019 in his whereabouts. He was certain that the man was an American and described him as having a muscular build and sporting a military haircut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the [Olongapo] Fiscal\u2019s Office, the American was there. I went to the police station, the American was there. I went to the house of one witness, he was also there,\u201d Roque said. \u201cOnce I leave, I will see him there. Kaya napipikon ako eh (That\u2019s why I\u2019m getting annoyed)\u2026 He also talks to people I already talked to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporters told Roque that the American might just be a supporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not a fan. He did not ask for a selfie,\u201d Roque jokingly said.<\/p>\n

Roque believes he is being stalked, probably in an attempt to \u2018check what evidence he has\u2019 against Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, the US Marine suspect in the murder case.<\/p>\n

The occurrence prompted him go to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday to formally request for the placement of three witnesses \u2013 all of whom identified Pemberton to be the last person seen with Laude before she was killed \u2013 including the potential primary witness, \u2018Barbie,\u2019 under the DOJ\u2019s Witness Protection Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the lawyer could be followed openly by an American, I\u2019m sure they are already following the witnesses, and they (witnesses) might be intimidated by their (Americans) presence,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

He has also planned to admit Laude\u2019s entire family under the government\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

Roque said he hesitated to confront the supposed \u2018spy\u2019 after being dissuaded by his colleagues who fear further complications in the high-profile case.<\/p>\n

The prominent lawyer filed a murder complaint before the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s office against Pemberton, who is being detained aboard US amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu docked at the Subic Bay free port.<\/p>\n

Roque, a lawyer who has handled high-profile cases, is known for his opposition against the US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement in 2006 at the height of the trial against US Marines allegedly involved in raping “Nicole,” another Filipino, in Pampanga.<\/p>\n

With report from Cyra Moraleda<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights lawyer Harry Roque, lead counsel of killed Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, on Monday said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":30381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ph","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}