HER FACE and neck marked with bruises, head swollen with contusions and clots, and body slumped against a toilet bowl—in this state, Jennifer Laude was found naked and lifeless on the floor of a bathroom in Celzone Lodge, a motel in Olongapo City’s red light district.
The autopsy report later released by the city police reported the cause of death to be “asphyxia by drowning.”
In addition, the wounds on her scalp, chest, arms and legs suggest that she was beaten by primary suspect United States (US) Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, with whom she had gone out on the night of October 11, before being drowned. The investigator tagged the killing as “a crime of hatred” carried out after the suspect discovered that Laude was not born female.
Laude was a transgender woman. According to an article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Laude had identified herself as a girl at the age of five and began cross-dressing when she turned 18. She was a student in Asian Institute of E-commerce College in Olongapo, where she worked in a beauty parlor.
Custody crisis
In the week after the killing, several members of various lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups staged protests condemning the alleged hate crime. Representatives from organizations like women’s group Gabriela and LGBT group Kapederasyon, clamored for justice outside the US Embassy, where alleged suspect Pemberton was being detained at the time. Their common protest: “Justice for Jennifer. Junk [the] Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).”
The VFA is the implementing agreement of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty, a pledge signed in 1951 that ensures mutual support between both countries in the event of an attack by a third party. Ratified in 1999, the VFA allows military exercises between the two countries and permits US ships to visit the country for repairs, refueling, and rest and recreation of the crew.
Groups like Kapederasyon and Progressive Organizations of Gays in the Philippines (ProGay Philippines) see the VFA as the main hurdle in the legal process. Kapederasyon Spokesperson Corky Hope Marañan believes that the VFA cannot be detached from the case. “[It] created the social and economic conditions that led to [the] tragedy,” Marañan says.
Calls for the junking of the VFA are not new. The agreement, riddled with controversies throughout its 15 years of implementation, has been lambasted for placing unequal relations between the Philippines and the US, particularly in terms of access to natural and military resources.
This supposed inequality also extends to the criminal jurisdiction of the US over their visiting personnel. According to Article V, Section 6 of the VFA, “the custody of any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with United States military authorities, if they so request.” Interpretations of this provision vary, particularly with regard to the custody of the visiting personnel.
In an interview on GMA Network last October 14, Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Charles Jose stated that the custody of Pemberton belongs to the US side in accordance with the VFA.
However, Atty. Harry Roque, who represents the Laude family, has said in his blog that “Philippine authorities should have custody over non-service related crimes committed by US servicemen under extraordinary circumstances,” in accordance with a provision under Section 3 of Article V.
Pemberton was transferred from the ship USS Peleliu to Camp Aguinaldo last October 22. He still, however, remains in the legal custody of the US.
While Marañan blames the VFA for the slow legal process, she thinks the media coverage will contribute positively to the LGBT movement. “I think that this focus really opened up more avenues for the discussion of LGBT issues and it is exciting to see people debating because that is the first step towards recognition,” she says.
Nuanced narratives
Recognition of LGBT issues in the country has been both positive and negative.
ProGay Philippines points out that increased media coverage tends to stir up negative conversation and narratives that divert discussion to Laude’s gender instead of the murder itself. After Laude’s death made headlines, LGBT groups and advocates, including Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, decried hateful remarks against the slain trans pinay. A scroll through comment threads of various news websites evinces victim blaming—assertions that Laude deserved to die on the basis of her lifestyle and gender identity.
According to Rosales, the most obvious attitude regarding the issue is “the lack of respect for [Laude’s] human dignity…because [she is a] trans woman.” This is telling of trans treatment in the country. A 2012 study sponsored by Transgender Europe (TGEU) lists the Philippines as the country with the highest incidence of trans murders in Asia from 2008 to 2011. TGEU reports that the 22 murders over four years of monitoring showed “a disturbingly high degree of violence” and transphobia, with a number of them committed upon perpetrators’ discovery that the person was trans.
Both ProGay and Kapederasyon attribute the transphobia to the patriarchal nature of Philippine society, which was increased further by Christian colonization. In the country, identifying as trans is still seen as an abomination or a sin, usually by family members. In a 2009 study titled “Lost In Transition,” Sam Winter, a scholar on gender and sexuality from the University of Hong Kong, says “40% of Filipina trans women reported paternal rejection when transitioning.”
Lobbying for legislation
It is a rejection that extends to legislation of basic rights. According to ProGay, “Transgenders [in the Philippines] still have to fight highly dehumanizing conflicts for the simplest access rights, such as the right to use toilets of their chosen gender.”
At a forum held at the University of the Philippines Center of Women’s Studies in May 2014, transpinay model and co-founder of Gender Proud, Geena Rocero, said, “While transgender people are culturally celebrated, they are not politically recognized.” Gender Proud is a global awareness movement focusing on transgender recognition and acceptance.
In the wake of Laude’s murder, CHR Chief Rosales urged legislators to pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill with provisions on LGBT rights. Various versions of the bill have made rounds in Congress, the first of which was authored by Rosales herself in 2006. As of 2014, a law has yet to be enacted.
Lack of legislation also engenders a problematic employment climate for trans people. According to TGEU, “Employment discrimination has led Filipina trans women to engage in sex work or leave the country.” The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (Strap) reports that migration, especially to Japan, started in the 1980s, a trend furthered by heightened discrimination during the Marcos era. “Many Filipina trans women [chose to go to] Japan because of better job and living opportunities,” explains Strap.
Injustice and indifference
Currently, the many issues surrounding the investigation hamper the Laude family’s quest for justice. Two months ago, a protest in Camp Aguinaldo by Roque, Laude’s fiancé Marc Sueselbeck and Laude’s sister Marilou led to Sueselbeck’s widely publicized deportation and a disbarment case against Roque.
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has also found himself mired in controversy after his refusal to attend Laude’s wake and his administration’s insistent defense of the VFA. However, he has expressed his desire for justice, citing the pivotal need to identify the culprit immediately.
According to Political Science Department Lecturer Hansley Juliano, protest groups currently seeking the VFA’s abrogation will most likely be unsuccessful. “The protest movement itself at the moment cannot scrap the VFA [because the] Armed Forces are demanding it and the VFA agreements are pretty much the lynchpin of our relationship with the United States at the moment,” he said, pointing out that the present US-Philippines relationship is mostly military in nature.
Regardless of the surrounding issues, preliminary investigations are now underway. Following approval by the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office, DNA samples were taken from Pemberton last November 6 to aid with the probe.
