PH may lose custody of US marine convict if VFA is abrogated — Marcos

Sen. Imee Marcos, speaking to reporters during the Kapihan sa Senado, Thursday, January 23, 2020. Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines— The Philippines may end up losing custody of US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton if the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States is terminated.

Senator Imee Marcos issued this warning on Monday as the government starts the process of abrogating the VFA after the US cancelled the visa of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

READ: PH to ‘start process’ of VFA termination — Locsin

As the former head of the Philippine National Police, Dela Rosa spearheaded the government’s brutal war on illegal drugs widely criticized for the thousands of drug suspects, who ended up dead.

READ: Confirmed: US voids Senator Bato dela Rosa’s visa

But Marcos noted that the VFA gives the Philippines legal jurisdiction over American military personnel, who commit crimes under local laws.

“Baka matuwa pa nga ang U.S. pag nawala na ang VFA kasi pwede pa rin naman pumasok ang mga tropang Amerikano sa bansa natin dahil sa Mutual Defense Treaty at EDCA [Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement], pero wala nang hawak ang Pilipinas sa mga kasong kriminal kung mangyari man,” she said in a statement.

(The US may even rejoice if the VFA is abrogated because American troops may still come to our country because of the Mutual Defense Treaty and EDCA, but the Philippines will have no longer have jurisdiction over criminal cases that would be committed by their troops.)

“Kung walang VFA, babalik tayo sa international law at batas ng bansa kung saan galing ang mga tropang dayuhan ang mangingibabaw,” the senator said.

(If there is no VFA, then we will have to follow international law, and the law of the country the foreign troops are from will prevail.)

Marcos cited in particular the case of Pemberton, who was convicted for the killing of transgender woman Jennifer Laude in a motel in Olongapo City in October 2014.

He is currently detained at Camp Aguinaldo under the watch of Philippine and American military personnel and is appealing his conviction on the grounds of self-defense.

But Marcos said Pemberton may be freed before he could serve his minimum jail sentence, if the VFA is ended before December 2021 or less than six years after his conviction in 2015.

“Baka makaswerte pa ulit si Pemberton. Wala na nga siya sa ordinaryong kulungan, baka maiklian pa ang kanyang sentensya. Dagdag-sakit para sa pamilya ni Jennifer,” she said.

(Maybe Pemberton will get lucky again. He’s already not detained in an ordinary jail, and his sentence might get shortened. It will add grief to Jennifer’s family.)

Instead of junking the VFA, Marcos urged the Philippine government to terminate EDCA since she said it “allows the U.S. military to skirt the constitutional ban on foreign bases in the Philippines and makes the country a potential target of America’s adversaries.”

EDCA, she said, “binds the country to hosting U.S. military troops and storing their defense equipment.”