PNoy: No Special Treatment for US Marine

President Benigno S. Aquino III on Wednesday denied that US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is suspected of killing a transgender in Olongapo City, is getting special treatment.

“He is not being treated with kid gloves and the Americans, may I reiterate, are conforming to the treaty wherein they have to make this person and others available for both the investigative and the judicial processes that are forthcoming,” the President said during the annual Presidential Forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Marco Polo Ortigas, Pasig City.

He noted that a Filipino citizen suspected of committing the same crime would also undergo a preliminary investigation, as what Pemberton is going through at present.

The Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday began preliminary investigations on Pemberton to see if there is enough evidence to charge him in court.

Pemberton, suspected of slaying transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, 26, on October 11, was brought to Camp Aguinaldo on Wednesday, following the Philippines’ request to the US for his custody. PND

Source: PCOO

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