Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque believes that the granting of absolute pardon by President Rodrigo R. Duterte to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton will greatly help the Philippines in acquiring a vaccine against Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Qualifying his statement as a personal opinion, the former attorney of the camp of Pemberton’s victim, Jennifer Laude, says he respects the decision of the President and that he is “not surprised dahil panahon ng pandemic at alam ko po ang emphasis ng ating Presidente ay makakuha ng vaccine para sa mga Pilipino. At sa akin po, bagama’t tayo po ang tumayong abogado ng pamilyang Laude, kung ang ibig sabihin naman niyan ay lahat ng Pilipino ay magkakaroon ng vaccine, kung mga Amerikano maka-develop, wala po akong problema diyan (I’m not surprised since we are in a pandemic and I know that the President’s emphasis is to obtain a vaccine for Filipinos. In my opinion, even if we are the lawyer who represented the Laude family, if it means that all Filipinos will have access to a vaccine developed by America,I don’t have a problem with that).”
Secretary Roque has emphasized that he and the President are one especially in seeking what is good for the country amidst criticism.
“Nagtagumpay po kami. Na-convict po namin si Pemberton. Ang binura lang po ng Presidente ay iyong karagdagang parusa kung mayroon pa. Hindi po binura ng Presidente iyong desisyon na mamamatay na tao po si Pemberton. Ang pwede pong magbura niyan ay iyong amnesty. Pero ang amnesty po ay hindi naman po pwedeng ibigay lang sa isang tao, kasi iyong amnesty erases even fact of the crime. Ang pardon po, iyong parusa lang ang binubura. Mamamatay-tao pa rin po si Pemberton sang-ayon po sa desisyon ng ating hukuman at hindi po iyan nabago (We had victory. We got Pemberton convicted. The President just erased the additional punishment. He did not erase the decision that Pemberton is a murderer. Only amnesty can erase that, but amnesty cannot be given to a person. Amnesty erases even the fact of the crime while pardon only erases the punishment. Pemberton is still a murderer according to the decision of the court and it will not change.)”
Report from Mela Lesmoras
