THE chief of the Philippine National Police’s anti-illegal drugs group Supt. Raphael Dumlao and his subordinate SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel could do no more than point at each other as the Senate started its investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Korean executive Jee Ick Joo last Oct. 18.
The Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson, convened the probe as President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday publicly apologized to South Korea for Jee’s untimely death and vowed the full prosecution of the perpetrators.
“I apologize for the death of your compatriot. We are very sorry that it had to happen,” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of a power plant in Sarangani.
But I can assure you. I will see to it… Better if they escape from prison. I’ll send their heads to you, t*** i** kayong mga pulis. Just watch. I won’t let you escape. You will suffer.”
Duterte said he would be working to have Jee’s murderers get the punishment they deserved. “There is no death penalty because of [the] Church. I’m asking for its restoration,” he said.
“You give the power back to me [and] I’ll execute them. I’ll hang them in one day, 20 a day. I’ll gladly send you the cadavers to fuel the burners,” Duterte added.
During the Senate hearing, Dumlao denied any involvement in Jee’s abduction from his house in Angeles City and bringing him to Camp Crame where he was supposedly strangled to death.
Dumlao belied the claim of Sta. Isabel, who was initially tagged as the principal suspect in the killing of victim.
Dumlao said he did not authorize any anti-drug operation against the Korean businessman.
“In fact, the people I was with were not from my unit. I do not know about their claim that they were shown a warrant. I don’t know them for that long,” said Dumlao.
Lacson told the PNP and NBI leadership to hold a case conference and thresh out their evidence. He advised them to reconcile the evidence to strengthen the case in order to give justice to the victim and his wife.
Despite positive identification by the victim’s house helper Marissa Morquicho, Sta. Isabel said it was not him.
Morquicho taken along with her Korean employer, but later released and given P1,000 for her fare in order to go back home.
She testified seeing Sta. Isabel as among those who entered the house of her employer during the kidnapping. He also heard him talking to a “boss” through a phone call on the night they were kidnapped.
She remembered that during the last call, she heard Sta. Isabel replied, “negative, no drugs were found.”
“It’s all Dumlao’s handiwork. When Dumlao called me, he told me to go to the grandstand. That’s where his car was parked,” Sta. Isabel told the hearing.
Sta. Isabel said he personally saw Dumlao beating Jee with a .45-caliber pistol inside an SUV parked in the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame.
Confronted by the senators if he did something to stop Dumlao from hitting the victim, Sta. Isabel replied, “none.”
“He’s a colonel, my superior and he has his men with him. I’m just alone there,” Sta. Isabel testified. He also thought it was a legitimate anti-drug operation and was not there when the businessman was killed.
Sta. Isabel said he was never involved in any case. He said there were mere allegations. He also denied his links to the kidnapping of a certain Arlene Tan where he was named a suspect.
The PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group had earlier mentioned records from the NBI which indicated Sta. Isabel was involved in the Tan kidnapping.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa also said Sta. Isabel was involved in the said case, but also admitted the case was dismissed.
“Sta. Isabel was already involved in a kidnapping case in March 2007 in the abduction of one Arlene Tan in Monumento, Caloocan,” Dela Rosa said. However, he said the case did not prosper.
Sta. Isabel also denied that he withdrew cash from the victim’s ATM account, but footage from a closed-circuit television camera shows otherwise.
A presentation by the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group indicated four ATM withdrawals on the BPI Master Card of the victim on the night he was abducted with P20,000 in each transaction. This information was provided by the victim’s wife Choi Kyung-jin.
Sta. Isabel insisted that he be allowed to play the recording of the telephone conversation between Dumlao and his wife to prove that it was Dumlao who killed the Korean national. He said the recording would also prove he has nothing to do with the case.
He also said Dumlao, along with a certain Col. Macapagal went to his house and tried to convince him fo pinpoint to policemen from Region 3 as behind the kidnap-slay, to be absolved in the case.
Speaking through an interpreter, Jee’s wife, Choi Kyung-jin, said Morquicho was introduced to them by a close Korean friend and it was confirmed by the house help but she doesn’t know her name.
Before working for Jee’s family, Morquicho said she worked for another Korean employer in Clark, Pampanga for a year.
Meanwhile, Ross Jonathan Galicia, deputy chief of the National Bureau of Investigation Task Force Against Illegal Drugs, said the victim’s ashes were disposed on Jan. 16.
He said the ashes were first given to a liaison officer, who was tasked to keep it. He said the employees of Gream Funeral Services, Gregorio Santiago, instructed them to dispose of the ashes.
The incident has shocked and angered the South Korean government, with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se demanding that those behind the crime be brought to justice.
The Department of Foreign Affairs had earlier promised to the South Korean government a speedy resolution of Jee’s case. With John Paolo Bencito
