U.S. marine | The Adobo Chronicles

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials admitted that they were ‘high’ on drugs when they ordered the deportation of US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, the primary suspect in the murder of Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude in October of last year.

Laude, 26, was found dead in the bathroom of a motel in Olongapo City. An autopsy report said that she died by asphyxiation due to drowning and strangulation.

According to witnesses, Laude was last seen checking in at the motel with Pemberton. The two had met at a nearby bar, where Pemberton was spending the night with fellow servicemen from the USS Peleliu, after participating in US-Philippines joint military exercises in Subic.

The BI order was based on guidelines calling for the deportation of “undesirable aliens.” Criminal offense is sufficient ground to declare an alien “undesirable,” the BI said.

Pemberton is currently being detained at a US facility inside Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Almost immediately following BI’s announcement of the deportation order, LGBT activists and legal luminaries criticized the agency for preempting the results of the ongoing murder trial. “How can the agency order the expulsion of a foreigner who is facing murder charges? It almost sends the wrong message that if a foreigner commits a crime in the Philippines, he would face deportation and escape punishment,” they said.

‘How about the BI shut up and wait for the trial to proceed before making such a stupid announcement,” a Manila transgender activist said.

Realizing their misjudgment and incompetency, top officials of BI issued an apology. “We should have realized that if Pemberton were convicted, he’d be facing imprisonment in the Philippines. We didn’t mean to imply that we will be deporting a convicted murderer and setting him free by expelling him from the country,” they added.

Meanwhile, LGBT activists are planning to sue BI officials for incompetency and lack of common sense.

Every so often, The Adobo Chronicles takes a break from its routine stories to bring to the attention of our readers and followers issues of serious and important concern. German national Marc Sueselbeck is the fiancé of Filipina Jennifer Laude who was murdered by U.S. marine Scott Pemberton in Olongapo City last year. Sueselbeck has been banned by the Philippine government from returning to the country. March 13, 2015 would have been the day that Sueselbeck will marry Laude. He wants to visit Laude’s grave on that special day. Following is his open letter to the citizens of the Philippines. We ask our readers to share his letter with their friends and networks.

To the citizens of the Philippines,

I fell in love with a Filipina woman named Jennifer Laude more than two years ago. Because of my heartbreak over her murder, I made a bad decision and scaled a fence only to ensure that her killer is still on Philippine soil. Because of this, the Philippine government has banned me from returning for the trial of her murderer and for a date that is so important for me, March 13, which would have been our wedding day.

I wrote a letter to a number of authorities in the Philippines pleading for them to allow me to return to your country. But I also wanted to write you to ask for help from anyone who can help me to speak to the government to give me leniency, I would be eternally grateful to you.

Maybe you know how much of a weight on my heart it is to feel the death of the person I love most in the world. But this weight is so much more difficult to bear now that I am unable to return to the Philippines just to be with our family and friends to find justice for Jennifer. I am unable to simply visit her grave, and what hurts the most, I can’t even be near her in any way on the day we were supposed to be married.

I remember what Pope Francis said when he visited the Philippines, that we need to have both mercy and compassion. That is all I ask of you, that you take pity on me and allow me to be with my beloved and her friends and family.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest apologies to anyone who felt that I was disrespectful to your laws and your country. This has never been my intention. It was only because I truly went out of my mind for a moment because of Jennifer’s death. Never have I wanted to disrespect the Philippines and Filipinos.

Thank you for reading this letter and for giving me so many things to be happy for in the two years that I have known the Philippines. It is my last wish that maybe you, the people of the country that I love, can help me be with one of your own, my most beloved.

Humbly,

Marc Sueselbeck