‘UniTeam to continue Duterte projects’

MANILA, Philippines — UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque yesterday assured the people that his group would continue the good programs of President Duterte, especially the war on drugs and the Build Build Build (BBB) program in infrastructure.

“We will continue the changes that was started by our President. Our promise is we will continue all the good programs of President Duterte,” Roque said during a rally in Caloocan.

“We will also continue the progress of the Philippines. We want all Filipinos to recover from the pandemic and from the war in Europe,” he added.

Duterte waged an aggressive anti-narcotics campaign to deal with the rampant drug problem shortly after assuming the presidency in 2016.

The BBB is the centerpiece program of the Duterte administration meant to usher in the “Golden Age of Infrastructure” to support economic development.

Government data showed that the BBB program accelerated public infrastructure expenditure to 7.3 percent at the end of the Duterte administration from an average of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product during the administration of the late president Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

Criminal jurisdiction

Meanwhile, Duterte has commended Roque for seeking justice for disadvantaged and marginalized Filipinos like murdered transgender Jennifer Laude.

Duterte asked Roque to reconfigure the criminal jurisdiction over foreign soldiers that commit offenses on Philippine soil under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

If elected to the Senate, Roque said he would look into the provision concerning non-service-related crimes committed by American soldiers.

In 2014, US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton killed Laude in Olongapo City. As legal counsel to the Laude family, Roque secured a homicide conviction against the American serviceman in 2015.

The Olongapo City Trial Court sentenced Pemberton to a 12-year maximum prison term. The court reduced it to 10 years based on an appeal. After serving his sentence for over five years, Pemberton received a presidential pardon in 2020.

But Roque pointed out that Pemberton was never remanded to Philippine police custody during the court trial. He cited a VFA clause that allows the US to get custody of personnel arrested for a non-service-related offense pending their conviction.

According to Roque, such an arrangement contradicts the country’s VFAs with Australia and Japan. The Philippines has automatic custody of any Australian or Japanese personnel found violating domestic laws while not on official duty.

Meanwhile, reelectionist Sen. Leila de Lima yesterday criticized the “knee-jerk” reaction of the government to the 2021 US State Department report on Philippine human rights abuses, which included violations committed by the New People’s Army (NPA), such as revolutionary taxation and recruitment of child soldiers. – Cecille Suerte Felipe