In his decision, Jabalde ordered Pemberton to pay the Laude family P4.2 million in damages.
Laude was found dead in a resort hotel.
Court records said Pemberton and his companions were drunk when Laude offered them sex for a fee.
In his testimony when he took the witness stand in August this year, Pemberton admitted strangling Laude when he found out that the latter was a man.
The court said the transgender died of asphyxia caused by drowning.
It convicted Pemberton for homicide because the prosecution failed to establish that there were aggravating circumstances of treachery and abuse of superior strength to warrant the soldier’s conviction for murder.
The court said Pemberton acted out of “passion and obfuscation” and “in the heat of passion, he arm-locked the deceased, and dunked his (her) head in the toilet”.
“The killing of Laude amounted only to homicide” and did not have the legal elements of murder, the court ruled.
A lawyer for the Laude family, Harry Roque, expressed outrage that the sentence was reduced on those grounds.
“We are very angry that the court considered these mitigating circumstances,” he said.
Julita Laude, mother of the victim, said she was thankful for the conviction but added: “I am not content with the six-12 year imprisonment.”
“The important thing is he will be jailed. My daughter did not die in vain,” she added.
No reaction
Lawyers said a black-suited Pemberton showed no reaction when the verdict was read.
Burly American guards shielded him from cameras as they escorted Pemberton to an upper floor, away from journalists.
The judge ruled that the American would be held temporarily at the national penitentiary until the two countries decide where he should serve his sentence.
Police barricaded the narrow street in front of the court, keeping out protesters who wanted to picket the event.
Pemberton’s homicide conviction is the first under the VFA agreement between the Philippines and the United States. The agreement, signed in 1998, covers the legal liability of US troops taking part in military operations in the Philippines.
Leftist activists have used the Pemberton case to attack the VFA and the close defense ties between the United States and its former colony.
The protesters have been demanding that the American should not receive any special treatment and should be held in an ordinary jail.
“We want to see him behind bars. We want justice for our countryman,” rally organizer Eric Robeso said.
WITH AFP