President Rodrigo Duterte has granted absolute pardon to a Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who is convicted for killing a Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude, in 2014, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who represented the family of the US soldier's victim during the trial of the case.

"Binura na po ng Presidente kung ano mang parusa ang dapat pang ipapataw kay Pemberton. Ang hindi po nabura ng Presidente, 'yang conviction ni Pemberton. Mamamatay-tao pa rin po siya," Roque said.

The grant of absolute pardon clears the killer of criminal liability and restores his civil and political rights, and remits penalties that were imposed for the crime he was convicted.

With Duterte's verdict, Pemberton can now freely go back to the United States, Roque said. He can also come back to the Philippines, if he decides to do so in the future, according to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, with "the extinction of criminal liability and full restoration of his civil rights.

"Pardon is an act of grace on the part of the chief executive. He may exercise this plenary power of executive clemency at any time and under any circumstance," Justice Sec. Menardo Guevarra said in a statement.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN or New Patriotic Alliance) questioned the grant of absolute pardon, calling it a "betrayal of national interest and a great injustice for the Laude family."

"So much for claims of having an independent foreign policy. The US government had its way again on this issue," the group said.

Vice President Leni Robredo also hit Duterte’s decision and said it was unfair for Duterte to pardon the convicten US soldier when thousands of jailed Filipinos are too poor to afford their own lawyers.

“Ang nakikita natin: Kapag mahirap, may parusa; kapag mayaman at nasa poder, malaya,” the Vice President insisted.

Different LGBTQ+ groups, famous personalities, and netizens, slammed Duterte’s decision.

A “direct attack not just to Jennifer & her family but to every trans person & every victim of our corrupt & unequal “justice” system”, one said.

"For as long as Duterte remains in office, and for as long as we as a country remain beholden to the interests of other nations, all of us in the Filipino LGBTQ+ community are Jennifer Laude. All of us remain unsafe in our own homeland,” Rey Salinas, spokesperson of the LGBT rights advocate group Bahaghari, said to ABS-CBN News.

Lance Corporal Pemberton met Ms. Jennifer Laude in a nightclub in Olongapo City, in October 2014—while he was in the Philippines for joint military exercises. According to closed circuit television footage presented at his trial, they entered in a hotel room together but the American soldier left alone a few moments after. Laude was later found dead in the room by a hotel worker, who testified that she was slumped over the toilet, with a broken neck.

In September 3, Roque condemned Pemberton's short imprisonment as a miscarriage of justice, citing the brutal death of Laude.

“As former private prosecutor for the Laude family, I deplore the short period of imprisonment meted on Pemberton, who killed a Filipino under the most gruesome manner,” Roque said.

"As I've said, the death of Jennifer Laude is symbolic of the death of the Philippines' sovereignty. Saan kayo nakakita, ang krimen nangyari sa Pilipinas, ang biktima Pilipino, ni hindi natin nahawakan si Pemberton noong nililitis siya, at ngayon bagama’t symbolically hawak natin sila ay nandoon pa rin iyong mga Amerikanong mga sundalo?” The spokesperson added.

And just yesterday, after Duterte’s pardon, Roque said it was no longer an issue whether or not the American soldier was entitled to early release under the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.