AN activists’ group led by former Gabriela Partylist Rep. Liza Maza said the murder of 26-year-old Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude allegedly by a US serviceman is “part of systemic violence” clutching the country.
Laude was reported found dead inside a hotel after being with US Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton on October 11.
Maza said the International Women’s Alliance (IWA), which she heads, condemns the murder and “places the culpability for this crime on the Aquino regime for continuing agreements, policies, treaties and laws that trample on the sovereignty of the Philippines, the rights of the Filipino people and condone the unequal relations between the US and the Philippines.”
Under the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, US military servicemen have and continue to regard the Philippines as a playground for ‘rest and recreation’ and the Filipinos as sex slaves and sex objects for consumption, according to Maza.
“Laude’s murder is part of the systemic violence that is deeply rooted in a historical legacy of imperialist occupation and an extension of all systems of exploitation and slavery. We believe that, in order to build safety for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and Queer people, women and children, we must eliminate the root causes and conditions that contribute to and justify the senseless violence.”
Maza added her group recognizes that “transphobia, homophobia and hate crime, as expressed differently in the world, have resulted in many deaths.”
“We acknowledge that [Laude’s] life, along with the lives of other victims of transviolence and hate crimes, matters a great deal. Their deaths have provided impetus for awareness raising on the issues and struggles of transgenders.”
Maza said IWA also laments the “royal treatment” accorded to the suspect.
“In the past weeks, PFC Pemberton has been shielded by the US with the latter swiftly taking custody and protecting the alleged murderer of Laude in a US-controlled facility.”
Maza said that although Pemberton is currently being tried under Philippine laws, “he can choose not to appear and was never presented to the family and the Filipino people.”
“Under US protection, PFC Pemberton even had the gall to arrogantly demand that the murder charge against him be reduced to homicide.”
The MDT, VFA and EDCA have made all of these abuses possible, she noted.