by Bevelyn Escolango
Olongapo City: Two US warships were ‘locked down’ at the port of Subic Bay yesterday after investigations by the local police point to a US Marine personnel, whose identity has not yet been released, as the main suspect in the slaying of a Filipino transgender on Saturday night, Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino said.
Both USS Peleliu and USS Germantown, which participated in the 10-day joint military exercises with Philippine military in several parts of the Philippines, were ordered not to leave the Subic port until after the investigation on the murder of 26-year old, Jeffrey Laude is over.
Three other Marines from the amphibious assault ship, Peleliu, who were with the suspect prior to the slaying, are being considered as possible witnesses and were detained aboard the ship.
Early, Paulino said that a vital witness to the killing, Mark Clarence Gelviro, who goes by the name Barbie, was brought on board USS Peleliu to help the police in identifying the suspect.
Olongapo City police station commander, Chief Inspector Gil Arizo Domingo, did not disclose the result of this identification but said that they now have in their possession CCTV footage from the Ambyanz Disco Bar where the suspect and his three companions met with Laude. After chatting, the suspect and Laude later checked-in at a nearby lodge where the lifeless body of the victim was found about 30 minutes later, his head submerged in the toilet bowl.
Domingo said the cause of death was asphyxia by drowning.
At the funeral parlour, Marilou Laude, the eldest sister of the victim, told reporters that her brother might have been physically tortured prior to the killing. She said she noticed that her brother’s earlobes were torn which she said could have been a result of Jeffrey’s earrings being torn out from his ears during a scuffle.
Meanwhile a women’s group, The Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA KA,) said in a statement it is saddened by the death of Laude.
“More than grieving for the dead, we are angered that our government has knowingly placed us, its citizens, in an untenable position with the extra-territorial privileges we have signed through the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement or EDCA,” the statement said.
The Peninsula
