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The Immigration Office (BI) announced Wednesday that US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton will be deported once he is released from the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
In a press release, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said BI would ask BuCor boss Gerald Bantag to turn over Pemberton so he could enforce his order issued in September 2015 for the deportation of the American soldier.
Morente said with the granting of the absolute pardon by President Duterte, “there is no further impediment or legal obstacle” to his departure.
“The BI is obligated and mandated to implement a summary deportation order that the Board of Commissioners issued against Mr. Pemberton on September 16, 2015 for being an undesirable alien,” Morente said.
“In any case, we are awaiting instructions from our Secretary of Justice, Menardo Guevarra, to guide us on how we will implement the deportation order in a way that is within the laws prescribed in the country,” Morente added.
Pemberton was convicted of murder in 2015 for killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude inside a motel in the city of Olongapo in October 2014.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
An Olongapo trial court ordered Pemberton’s release due to his good conduct time allowance (GCTA) credits, saying he has already served his maximum jail sentence.
Pemberton is still in a detention center inside Camp Aguinaldo and his attorney, Rowena Flores, said they are working to process the documents to expedite his release after clemency.
Flores said they expect Pemberton to be released within the week once the requirements are completed.
BI Legal Division chief lawyer Arvin Santos said that foreigners who are ready to be deported must present authorizations from the National Investigations Office and the Regional Court of First Instance as proof that they have no more criminal cases or pending civilians.
Santos said that once these requirements are submitted, the office will organize and schedule the deportee’s flight, who will be escorted by BI intelligence agents and civil security personnel and then hand over to the airline in question before boarding the plane.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that if Pemberton did not question his deportation, then there would be no more problems for his departure.
“If there was already a final deportation order against Pemberton, and he is not challenging it, then so be it. Either way, it’s out, ”Guevarra said.
