Sta. Isabel tags superior in Korean’s kidnap-slay PNP takes custody

MANILA, Philippines – Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, who allegedly strangled South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, yesterday linked his immediate superior to the crime.

The PNP took custody of Sta. Isabel from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after a Pampanga court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Sta. Isabel, in an interview on ABS-CBN, said Superintendent Rafael Dumlao III, one of the leaders of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drug Group (PNP-AIDG), was the one who ordered him to bring Jee’s remains to a funeral parlor in Caloocan City.

“He gave me P30,000 for Jee’s cremation,” Sta. Isabel said.

He reiterated it was Dumlao who ordered the kidnapping and murder of the Korean.

Sta. Isabel said he was ordered by Dumlao to report to Camp Crame on Oct. 18.

He said he was surprised when he saw Jee and his Filipina housemaid at the PNP headquarters.

Sta. Isabel claimed that Dumlao instructed him to kill the woman and dump her body elsewhere.

While they were traveling, Sta. Isabel said he spared the woman after she begged for her life.

When he returned to Camp Crame, Sta. Isabel claimed that he found Jee’s body in a vehicle parked near the AIDG office.

‘Fall guy’

Sta. Isabel said he was being used as a fall guy to protect higher PNP officials involved in the killing of Jee.

Sta. Isabel did not name the police officials, saying “I will reveal their identities at the proper forum.”

“I was not involved in the crime. They are the ones who planned it and I have evidence to prove that,” he said.

Dumlao denied Sta. Isabel’s allegations.

“Contrary to the evidence at hand and the witnesses’ account, everybody is pointing at him,” Dumlao said.

Arrest warrant

Members of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) served a warrant for Sta. Isabel’s arrest at the NBI headquarters in Manila.

The arrest order was issued by Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 58 Judge Irineo Pangilinan Jr. for kidnapping for ransom with homicide against Sta. Isabel along with SPO4 Roy Villegas, Ramon Yalung and four others known only as “Pulis,” “Jerry,” “Sir Dumlao” and “Ding,” who is believed to be the owner of a funeral parlor where Jee’s body was taken, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

Police arrived at the NBI compound at around 4 p.m. The convoy carrying Sta. Isabel, who was in handcuffs, left at 6:30 p.m.

The court issued the arrest order two days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint for the non-bailable complex crime of kidnapping for ransom with homicide against the suspects.

Sta. Isabel had surrendered to the NBI, citing threats to his life. Villegas is under the restrictive custody of the PNP.

Another suspect yields

Yalung surrendered to the police last night after he was included in the arrest warrant issued by the court.

Yalung is now in the custody of the Anti-Kidnapping Group at Camp Crame, legal officer Superintendent Dennis Wagas said.

Jee’s housemaid positively identified Yalung as among the people who forcibly took the businessman from his house in Angeles City on Oct. 18.

Bato to Sta. Isabel: Man up

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said he would personally talk to Sta. Isabel.

Dela Rosa said he wants to know why Sta. Isabel committed the crime, which brought shame to the police organization.

“He has to face me and I will talk to him man-to-man and ask him why he did that,” the PNP chief said. “He commits kidnapping and now he is concerned for his safety.”

Aguirre said the case was filed after the DOJ issued a resolution finding probable cause in the complaint lodged against the suspects by the AKG in November last year.

“They did not submit counter-affidavits, so the inquest proceedings were resolved without them submitting any countervailing evidence,” he said.

Aguirre refused to say if Sta. Isabel could qualify for the witness protection program until the policeman submits his affidavit for assessment of the DOJ.

Villegas reportedly admitted that it was Sta. Isabel who strangled Jee.

The AKG initially filed a complaint for kidnapping for ransom against Sta. Isabel and Villegas.

But when probers discovered that Jee had been killed and cremated, the DOJ upgraded the case to the complex crime of kidnapping for ransom with homicide.

Detailed narration

In a seven-page resolution issued earlier this week, the DOJ said Villegas gave a detailed narration of the kidnapping and killing of the Korean businessman.

Villegas said Sta. Isabel brought packing tape and surgical gloves and ordered them to cover the head of the victim.

“Villegas saw Sta. Isabel strangling and killing the victim,” the DOJ resolution said.

Fake death certificate

The involvement of Caloocan Barangay 165 Chairman Gerardo “Ding” Santiago in the kidnapping and killing of Jee is getting clearer after the victim’s fake death certificate was discovered by police.

A source said the supposed death certificate of Jee was filed by Epephany Gotera, who works at the Gream Funeral Homes owned by Santiago.

Introducing herself as a niece of Jee, Gotera went to the St. Nathaniel Crematorium on Oct. 19 last year with the death certificate, which is a requirement for the cremation.

The name of Jee on the document was Jose Ruamar Salvador, 51, of Champaca street, Sta. Quiteria in Caloocan.

The certificate, which was prepared by Rosemarie Pascual, indicated that the victim died of severe pneumonia, hypertension and bronchial asthma.

Based on the death certificate, the victim was cremated on Oct. 19, 2016.

It was signed by a certain “Dr. Nenita Dimaviva” of Quirino Highway in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Upon police verification, it turned out that no one with the name Jose Ruamar Salvador lives on Champaca street, Sta. Quiteria.

“The document is spurious, to say the least. We are checking the real identity of the alleged doctor who signed the death certificate,” the source told The STAR.

The source said Gotera’s role was vital to the case considering that she processed the cremation papers of the victim. – With Edu Punay, Rey Galupo, Ghio Ong