Undesirable alien tag no effect on Pemberton - Gabriela

MANILA, Philippines - Women's rights group Gabriela said on Monday that declaring United States Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton as an undesirable alien has no bearing as the Visiting Forces Agreement does not require American troops without travel documents to enter the country.

 

The Bureau of Immigration earlier has sought to declare Pemberton, the principal suspect in the killing of Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude, and Laude's fiance, German Marc Sueselbeck, as undesirable aliens.

 

Sueselbeck, along with Laude's sister Marilou, climbed the fence surrounding the custodial facility inside the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo where Pemberton is detained. 

 

"Even if Pemberton would indeed be declared undesirable, all that is useless under the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows for the entry of US soldiers in the country without showing visa or other similar documentation to Philippine authorities. We seriously doubt that the Philippine immigration has a way to monitor US soldiers who come in and out of the country for military exercises," Gabriela Secretary General Joms Salvador said.    

 

Salvador said the Philippine government is only recommending to declare Pemberton as an undesirable alien to appease the public outrage triggered by the killing of Laude.

 

"This is all for “pogi points” in the midst of all the flak that the Aquino government is getting in its handling of the issue of criminal jurisdiction over the murder case," she said. 

 

She added that the actions of Sueselbeck were understandable when he tried to enter the detention facility of Pemberton. 

 

"Why is the Philippine government so hell-bent on declaring Sueselbeck an ‘undesirable alien’ when all it could do is to stand in abeyance to the US' desire of protecting Pemberton and keeping him in custody?" Salvador said. 

 

Members of the group will again troop to the Olongapo City Prosecutors' Office to monitor the preliminary investigation on the case.