Women’s partylist group Gabriela held yesterday a rally in front of Camp Aguinaldo’s Gate 2 to demand the transfer of convicted murderer US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton’s detention from a US military structure inside Camp Aguinaldo to a Philippine jail facility.
The group, at the same time, demanded the abrogation of all US-PH military agreements.
“There would be no other way to best honor the memory of Jennifer Laude and boost the people’s cry for justice than by putting an end to the special treatment enjoyed by Pemberton and abrogating the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, the Visiting Forces Agreement and all other military treaties that have spawned abuses, violence and deaths among Filipino women and children,” said Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Emmi de Jesus.
Fellow Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, meanwhile, expressed hopes that the Duterte government’s track of pursuing an independent foreign policy will translate to concrete gains in the dispensation of justice for Jennifer Laude. (Francis Wakefield)