MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) – US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton is now detained in an airconditioned 20-footer van inside Camp Aguinaldo, the general headquarters of the Philippine military in Quezon City. He will be kept there for the duration of the preliminary probe into the murder complaint against him.
"At around 845 am today the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) received Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton from the US authorities. Accompanied by US and Philippine officials, he was airlifted by an aircraft from his temporary detention facility onboard USS Peleliu that is docked in Subic," AFP chief General Gregorio Catapang Jr announced Wednesday morning, October 22.
Pemberton arrived via a chopper at the Joint US Military Assistance Group (Jusmag) compound inside Camp Aguinaldo.
The 20-footer van is a facility of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board. The facility has been there since 2000. He will be sleeping in a military type cotbed.
"The court will decide on the appropriate detention facility once a case has been filed against the accused," added Catapang.
Joint custody
Catapang Jr said Pemberton will be under the "joint" custody of Filipino and American soldiers.
"The personnel of the US Marine Custodial Unit will post guards inside his detention cell while the military police personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will secure the outside perimeters of the facility," Catapang said.
The US serviceman is accused of killing Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude on October 11 in Olongapo City. The city prosecutor held its preliminary hearing on the case on Tuesday, October 22, which Pemberton skipped.
Pemberton was in US custody at the USS Peleliu, one of two military ships that brought American troops to the former Subic naval base for joint military exercises with the Philippines a couple of weeks ago.
He is the first American soldier to be detained in Camp Aguinaldo in recent history.
"The US government is sensitive to our feelings. They want to show they respect our justice system," Catapang told a press conference. He explained that the decision to detain him in the facility was "mutually agreed by both countries" through the embassies.