Joseph Scott Pemberton, the U.S. marine suspected of murdering transgender Filipino Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude, was transferred to the Philippine military for detention Wednesday, though he remains under American custody under Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) rules.

According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Pemberton has been airlifted to their headquarters in Manila as per U.S. and Philippine agreement.

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Pemberton was formerly detained on board a U.S. war vessel -- USS Peleliu -- docked the Subic Bay Freeport, some 50 miles northwest of Manila, after he was charged for killing the 26-year-old last Oct. 11.

According to Voltaire Gazmin, the Philippine defense secretary, the U.S. agreed to put Pemberton in a facility that passes U.S. custodial standards. Gazmin said he was happy that the U.S. acknowledged that the crime was committed in the Philippines.

Though the suspect had been physically transported under the watch of Philippine officials, he "remains in the custody of the U.S. as written in the Visiting Forces Agreement" and that the Philippine military "merely provides a detention facility as agreed by both U.S. and Philippine governments," a statement from the AFP revealed.

According to De La Salle University's Political Science Professor Richard Javad Heydarian, this sort of confusion may ignite more rage among Filipinos.

Many have deemed the agreement favorable only to the U.S. side, including high-profile government officials and nationalists who had repeatedly demanded the eradication of the agreement.

After news broke about Pemberton's involvement in the case, several officials and anti-U.S. advocates in the Philippines saw another opportunity to question the VFA.

In 2005, critics questioned the treaty after another American serviceman, Daniel Smith, was convicted of raping a Filipino woman at the Subic Freeport.

The agreement allows American forces to conduct combat exercises in the Philippines. The treaty also allows the Philippines to prosecute members of the visiting troops, but the U.S. retains custody over them "from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings."

In 2009, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled, as in the case of Smith, that U.S. military personnel convicted of any crime should serve the sentence Philippine courts deem fit.

Tagspolitics, Social Conflict, Military, Armed Forces of the Philippines, RP–US Visiting Forces Agreement