THE owner of the funeral parlor where the body of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo was cremated after he was strangled in police headquarters in October 2016 has surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Friday.
Aguirre said Gerardo Santiago, a former policeman and owner of Gream Funeral Homes in Caloocan City, returned from Canada to face the charges filed against him in connection with Jee’s death.
“I am innocent,” Santiago told reporters, when asked why he returned to the Philippines despite threats to his life.
One of the accused, SPO4 Roy Villegas said Santiago had been paid P30,000 and Jee’s golf set as payment for taking the body.
Immigration records showed that Santiago left for Canada on Jan. 11 and returned Jan. 26, when he and his wife were fetched at the airport by the NBI.
Aguirre said Santiago had sent feelers asking for NBI protection.
“I came back here because I am innocent,” Santiago said. “If I am guilty, I will not return and just hide in Canada.”
Santiago was not named in the Justice Department resolution, but the charge sheet filed with a Pampanga court included a certain “alias Ding” as the owner of the funeral home that was mentioned in the complaint.
Aguirre confirmed that “Ding” is Santiago, who said he is willing to cooperate with the government.
“The return of Mr. Santiago augurs well for our collective search for the truth behind the dastardly act committed against the person of the late Mr. Jee Ick Joo,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said he expects Santiago to give his statement at the NBI where he is now in custody.
The Justice Secretary also confirmed that the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group has also filed a supplemental complaint before the Justice Department against PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group-Pampanga head Supt. Raphael Dumlao and Santiago, formally including them as respondents in the case.
The two allegedly conspired with the prime suspect SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and will also be facing charges of kidnapping for ransom with homicide.
Sta. Isabel implicated several senior officials in the case, including his superiors Dumlao and Senior Supt. Allan Macapagal of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group.
Earlier, Aguirre cited the possibility that higher PNP officials were involved in the kidnap-slay case after Sta. Isabel and wife Jinky submitted evidence pointing to involvement of his superiors.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa also confirmed Dumlao’s participation in the crime based on the evidence gathered by the AKG.
Dumlao was together with SPO3 Sta. Isabel on several occasions on the day the Korean was killed inside Camp Crame.
On Jan. 16, Sta. Isabel surrendered to the NBI and asked for protective custody after being tagged as one of the suspects in the kidnapping and killing of the Korean businessman.
The warrant for the arrest was served on Jan. 20 by members of the PNP-AKG at the NBI. Sta. Isabel was transferred to the custody of the PNP.
Jee’s wife, Choi Kyunghin, 53, said her husband was forcibly taken by eight armed men on Oct. 18 from his residence and had not been located until now.
His family paid a P5-million ransom on Oct. 30 but he was never released.
The abductors asked for an additional P4 million but failed to produce proof that the victim was still alive, prompting Choi to seek police’s assistance.
On Jan. 17, the NBI, together with the Caloocan police, went to the funeral parlor after receiving information that Jee’s body was taken there on the same day he was abducted on Oct. 18, 2016. No body was recovered as Jee’s body had been cremated last year.
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin said Santiago sought protective custody voluntarily.
“He fears for his safety. He fears for his life. He fears for the safety of his family,” Lavin said.
Lavin said Santiago would cooperate with the investigation.
“Full cooperation and he will tell all. He said he will tell the truth [about] what really happened,” Lavin said.
Earlier this month, Santiago took a leave of absence from work and flew to Canada.
Santiago is a retired officer of the Northern Police District, where he had worked with Sta. Isabel, the primary suspect in Jee’s killing.
Santiago reportedly agreed to process Jee’s remains before it was cremated at another establishment in exchange for P30,000 and the Korean’s golf set.
Sta. Isabel and several other policemen have been accused of using President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs as a cover for the kidnapping of Jee from his home in Angeles, Pampanga last Oct. 18.
A Seoul-based news agency, citing police sources, said the victim appeared to have been strangled on the same day of his abduction inside police headquarters.
One of the accused, SPO4 Roy Villegas, tagged Sta. Isabel as the one who strangled Jee.
In its supplemental complaint, the PNP-AKG also asked the Justice Department to include as a respondent Christoper Alan V. Gruenberg, the registered owner of the Nissan Exalta used to tail Jee.
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday urged Aguirre to stick to the facts and avoid speculating on what might have happened and who might be involved.
Lacson made the statement in response to Aguirre’s claim that the Jee scandal could be part of a plot to destabilize the administration of President Duterte.
“When he talked about the destabilization, he was saying a group wanted to ride on the destablizafion. But there’s no denying the fact is what happened to the Korean and the policemen really did it,” Lacson said.
“I don’t know where he’s coming from. It might be his analysis or he has information. But let us take a look at what happened to the Korean, the policemen were the perpetrators, they killed him in Camp Crame. These are facts,” said Lacson, chairman of the Senate public order committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the Jee case.
At the Senate inquiry on Thursday, Aguirre said any attempt to destroy the credibility of PNP chief Director General Dela Rosa could be considered an attack against the Duterte administration.
“If you can destroy General dela Rosa, I’m sure you can demoralize or destroy the PNP. When you destroyed the PNP, which is the arm of President Duterte, you can already destroy the administration of President Duterte,” Aguirre said.
Lacson said, however, that while it was possible that the Jee slay was orchestrated, it was “not probable.”
Senator Grace Poe scored Aguirre for talking without proof, saying high-ranking government officials should focus on finding solutions.
“Listening to those apparently implicated, there’s enough reason to know they acted for their own benefit, and not as part of a plot,” she said.
She specifically cited the case of Sta. Isabel, who appeared to have built up his wealth over the last few years, even before Duterte became President.
The problems that beset the PNP were there before Duterte, Poe said.
“This is why I do not believe statements by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno connecting the death of Jee Ick Joo to an alleged plot to remove Duterte from the country’s top post,” she said.
She added that it was “quite irresponsible” for the two members of the Cabinet to air such speculation.
“If they have evidence, then by all means, they should continue with that investigation,” she said.
In South Korea, a presidential hopeful criticized Duterte for not taking action on Jee’s case.
Moon Jae-in, the leading presidential hopeful from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said Duterte showed “diplomatic disrespect” to South Korea by not holding Dela Rosa responsible for Jee’s death.
The Palace, however, said Moon might be using the case for his political advantage.
“Well, we understand where the South Koreans are coming from. They feel deeply about it. And the President has also expressed his deepest and profoundest apologies,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
“[But] let us be cognizant of the fact that it’s being spoken by a political hopeful. So it may be nuanced by some interests,” he added.
On Thursday, Duterte apologized to the South Korean government for the incident and vowed that the suspects would get the maximum punishment if proven guilty.
Meanwhile, Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Lee Chul-sung sent a letter to Dela Rosa Wednesday to request a swift and fair investigation into the case, stern punishment of the people involved, and continued efforts to prevent crimes targeting Koreans in the Philippines. With John Paolo Bencito