(Eagle News)–US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton has been deported from the Philippines.
Immigration bureau spokesperson Dana Sandoval said in a television interview that the military plane carrying the American national took off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday, at 9:14 a.m.
Pemberton’s deportation came after President Rodrigo Duterte granted him absolute pardon over the 2014 Laude killing in Olongapo.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said with the absolute pardon, Pemberton could now be freed but his conviction was “not erased.”
President Duterte had said he granted the absolute pardon because Pemberton had been unfairly treated, with authorities not monitoring his conduct for good credit time allowances for early release.
He said Pemberton should have been presumed to have exhibited good moral character while imprisoned as authorities did not report otherwise.
Sandoval said Pemberton was on his way to the United States.
“Ang mga kasama niya po ay miyembro din po, kasamahan niya sa US military. Hinatid po siya ng personnel po ng US Embassy, at of course, escorted po siya ng mga ahente natin dito sa Immigration,” she said.
Earlier, an Olongapo court ordered Pemberton’s release, saying he had already served a total accumulated time of 10 years, one month, and 10 days, more than the 10-year maximum penalty imposed by that court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
The computation included GCTA, which, under the Uniform Manual on Time Allowances and Service of Sentence, was a “privilege granted to a Person Deprived of Liberty (PDL), entitling him/her to a reduction of prison term for every month of actual detention or service of the sentence as a reward for good conduct and exemplary behavior.”