AFP to proceed with disbarment case vs Laude lawyer

MANILA, Philippines - The military leadership will push through with its plan to file a disbarment case against lawyer Harry Roque, counsel of the family of Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude who was killed allegedly by a US Marine inside a motel room in Olongapo City last Oct. 11.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Public Affairs Office (AFP-PAO) chief, said military lawyers will file legal action against Roque at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for his conduct when he and members of the Laude family gate-crashed at Camp Aguinaldo in their bid to confront US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton.

Pemberton is currently detained inside a 20-foot air-conditioned shipping container at the US-controlled Joint United States Advisory Group (JUSMAG) compound that also serves as the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) facility located inside Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Roque, for his part, said that he is not at all threatened by the AFP move to have him disbarred, saying that the military move will clarify a lawyer’s role in pushing the victims’ rights and national sovereignty.

In return, Roque said he would also be filing graft charges against the AFP for allowing the US to have custody over Pemberton at Camp Aguinaldo.

“It’s graft when they allow the US to have custody over Pemberton. If they win, I will be disbarred. If I win, they end up in jail,” Roque said.

He added that his filing of charges against the AFP is without prejudice to the filing of contempt charges against those who have repeatedly and publicly threatened him with disbarment.

“The AFP should be taught what a civilian officer of the court stands for,” Roque, who was in France attending a human rights conference, said in a text message.

Roque’s law partner lawyer Romel Bagares also said they are ready to face the complaint for disbarment if and when it is filed.

He said that they find it funny to hear the AFP suddenly trumpeting its apparently newfound faith in the rule of law, of which it has not exactly been a role model.

“If at all, we’re glad the Armed Forces has finally discovered there is such a thing as the rule of law, given its sordid human rights record. We implore Gen. Gregorio Catapang to see if the AFP in all of 19 years has observed it in the Pestaño case, for instance, where all the military hierarchy has done is whitewash the investigation on the death of their very own officer. We could go on and on. However, if they think this will stop Atty. Roque from pursuing justice in the Laude case, they are hugely mistaken,” Bagares said.

Roque, along with the Laude family members and Jeffrey’s German fiancé Marc Suselbeck, entered Camp Aguinaldo in the afternoon of Oct. 22, hours after Pemberton was transferred to the JUSMAG facility from the USS Peliliu that was then docked at Subic Bay where he was temporarily detained.

The group, while in front of the JUSMAG facility, demanded to see Pemberton but were barred from entering the fenced compound. Jeffery’s sister Marilou then climbed the perimeter fence and Suselbeck followed.

The duo, however, failed to get any closer after soldiers barred them from proceeding to the second gate leading to Pemberton’s detention cell.