Lacson joins objectors to Pemberton release

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Sunday added his voice to the chorus of opposition against the early release of former US Marine Joseph Pemberton, who was sentenced to a 10-year jail term for killing transgender Jennifer Laude in 2014.

Lacson, the Senate defense committee chair, said higher courts should review the decision of Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court that granted Pemberton’s request to be freed ahead of the completion of his sentence due to good conduct time allowance (GCTA).

The controversial GCTA rule grants convicted criminals a reduction of their jail terms for showing good behavior while in prison.

“Pemberton availing of GCTA surely deserves a second look by our jurists,” Lacson said on Twitter. “For one, I cannot imagine how he complied with the requirement of rendering teaching or mentoring service while serving time all by himself.”

Pemberton, now 25, has been detained in isolation at a special military jail in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, after he was sentenced to six to 10 years in jail in November 2015 for killing the then 26-year-old Laude in an Olongapo City motel room on Oct. 11, 2014.

But on Sept. 1, Jabalde allowed Pemberton to be awarded full credit for good behavior while in jail, saying the former Marine had already served 2,142 days since his detention from December 2015 up to August 2020, and was entitled to GCTA of 1,548 days.

This gave the American an accumulated time served with GCTA credits of 3,690 days, which is one month more than his 10-year maximum sentence.

But the Department of Justice questioned the court’s reckoning of the GCTA and its jurisdiction to release the US serviceman.

“Our trial prosecutors are still drafting the [motion for reconsideration or MR], but I expect that jurisdictional issues, apart from the divergence in GCTA computation, will be included in the MR,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Sunday, adding government lawyers will likely file the appeal this week.

The Laude family’s lawyer Virginia Suarez also filed an appeal, questioning the application of GCTA. INQ