Jee widow wants additional cases filed vs suspects

MANILA, Philippines -  The widow of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file additional cases in court against the policemen and several others involved in the killing.

Choi Kyung-jin made the plea when she attended the DOJ’s reinvestigation on the kidnap-slay case last Friday.

Bryan Bantilan, counsel of Choi, asked the investigating panel of Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera and Olivia Torrevillas to include charges of car theft and robbery against the policemen and several others tagged in Jee’s killing.

This is apart from the case for kidnapping for ransom with homicide already filed against them before the Angeles City regional trial court (RTC) in Pampanga.

“His (Jee’s) personal property was taken and his motor vehicle was also taken,” Bantilan argued during the hearing.

The victim’s black Ford Explorer and golf set were taken when they snatched him, along with house help Marisa Morquicho, from his home in Friendship Subdivision in Angeles City on Oct. 18 last year.

A witness of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), who earlier tagged SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel in the crime also appeared in the preliminary reinvestigation hearing.

The AKG asked the DOJ to make Morquicho a private complainant in the case and not just a witness since she was also abducted by the respondents but was later freed.

Apart from Sta. Isabel, the others tagged in the case also appeared before the DOJ panel – SPO4 Roy Villegas and Ramon Yalung, PO2 Christopher Baldovino, Gerardo Santiago, Jerry Omlang and Christopher Alan Gruenberg.

Santiago, the retired police officer who owns the Gream funeral parlor where Jee’s body was cremated, has applied for witness protection after earlier surrendering to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which conducted a parallel probe on the case, according to his lawyer Restituto Mendoza.

Omlang, the errand boy in the NBI who also surrendered and confessed to his participation in the crime, likewise sought protection after tagging Supt. Rafael Dumlao of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) as the mastermind in the kidnap-slay case.

Dumlao did not appear in the hearing for security reasons. However, his lawyer Ricardo Moldez II, who assured the panel that the police official now under PNP restrictive custody will appear when he submits his answer to the allegations.

The prosecutors gave both the NBI and AKG five days to submit all records of the case and file their respective pleadings.

The DOJ panel also set the next hearing on Feb. 16 for the filing of counter-affidavits on the charges, which they did not have the chance to do in the earlier preliminary investigation.

The DOJ is conducting the second preliminary investigation on the case following the order of the Angeles City RTC Branch 58.

RTC Judge Irineo Pangilinan Jr. granted the motion filed by Sta. Isabel questioning his indictment by the DOJ despite his lack of opportunity to submit his answer to the charges during earlier preliminary investigation.

In seeking reinvestigation, Sta. Isabel argued he was deprived of his constitutional right to due process because the DOJ filed the case in court earlier this month when the preliminary hearing was set next month.

The DOJ started the reinvestigation while the PNP and NBI joined forces in digging deeper into Jee’s case, which is reportedly being considered as no longer just a case of “tokhang for ransom.”

“The investigation will cover all these possible angles,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

Among the possible angles being pursued, as revealed by PNP chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, is that a big syndicate composed of PNP and NBI officials involved in extorting foreign businessmen in Pampanga was behind Jee’s kidnapping.

The court gave the DOJ until March 3 to complete the reinvestigation and submit its resolution.

Still good

Despite the controversy, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is in initial talks with the South Korean government for the granting of $200 million worth of advanced water treatment and purification equipment to assist local government units (LGUs) with poor quality water sources.

This developed as the memorial service for Jee will be held today at the PNP multi-purpose center in Camp Crame.

Officials from the Philippine government and the South Korean embassy, as well as the Korean community in the Philippines, will attend to pay their respects.

The memorial service is open to the public and all visitors are welcome to offer their sympathies and condolences.

A condolence book will be opened for the public during the period of mourning from Feb. 6 to 13. A smaller memorial service will be held daily at 3 p.m. for a week, also in Camp Crame.

The Korean community in the country has been placing flowers and offering prayers at the site where Jee was reportedly killed while inside a parked vehicle inside Camp Crame.

DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno said the highly advanced water purifying equipment being offered by the South Korean government to LGUs in the form of soft loans can reportedly purify salt water and even canal water in high volumes.

“If our agreement with South Korea would push through, the equipment will help communities in far-flung areas where access to clean drinking water remains to be a challenge,” Sueno said.

The South Korean government expressed its willingness to be of assistance to LGUs during a meeting between DILG and South Korean officials at the DILG Central Office in Quezon City recently.

“Although nothing is official yet, we are excited about this and we are in close correspondence with the Korean government to come up with a mutually-beneficial understanding,” Sueno said.   -  Cecille Suerte Felipe