SPO3 Sta. Isabel setting PNP up in Korean slay, says antikidnap chief

PRIMARY SUSPECT SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel escorted out of the NBI for transfer to Camp Crame –ALEXIS CORPUZ

The Philippine National Police said the camp of SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel is simply setting the police up for the crime he  commited when he killed South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo last October.

“We will not play their game,” Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Kidnapping Group chief Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao said in a press conference at Camp Crame on Monday.

Sta. Isabel and his wife Jinky have vehemently denied the former’s participation in the murder of Jee inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame.

Jinky claims Dumlao was trying to pressure her husband to cooperate with them in a planned operation wherein three policemen, whom they will accuse as real killers of Jee, will be killed to cover up the participation of Sta. Isabel, his team leader at the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) Supt. Rafael Dumlao, and two other AIDG cops in the October incident.

But Dumlao denied Jinky’s claims, saying it was she and Sta. Isabel’s two lawyers who asked them to clear Sta. Isabel’s name in the media before they would cooperate with the investigators.

He denied visiting Sta. Isabel’s house to negotiate with him. “Hindi ako napunta sa bahay niya. Kung sinasabi niyang nakapunta ako sa bahay niya, kasinungalingan yan.”

(I didn’t go to his house. If he said I went to his house, that’s a lie.)

“Actually, siya (Jinky) ang tumawag siya through their attorney na gustong makipagtulungan ‘yung asawa niya noong naco-corner na namin siya so sabi ko, ‘Okay, punta kayo sa opisina ko.’ Pumunta nga sila pero ayaw pumunta sa office ko kasi baka raw may media. ‘So saan niyo gusto?’ Sa harap daw ng tennis court. And then noong kausap ko ‘yung attorney niya, tinanong ko, ‘Saan si Ricky?’ Wala.

(Actually, Jinky called us through their attorney saying that her husband wants to cooperate when he was already cornered so I said, ‘Okay, come to my office.’ They came but they didn’t want to go to my office because they said there might be media. ‘So where do you want?’ They said, in front of the tennis court. When I talked to the the attorney, I asked, ‘Where is Ricky?’ He wasn’t there.)

“Then right there and then sabi ko, ‘Ito lang parameters ko: Una, kailangan ko ng proof of life ng asawa mo, kung patay na, proof of death. Second, sino lahat gumawa nito at third, nasaan na ‘yung sasakyan. Kung mabigay ni Ricky lahat ‘yan, matutulungan natin siya…’ Eh ang sabi ng attorney, kailangan ko muna i-clear si Sta. Isabel sa media. Nagalit naman ako. Nauna ang kalesa sa kabayo. ‘Wala na tayong paguusapan dito,’ sabi ko,” Dumlao narrated.

(Then right there and then, I said, ‘These are my parameters: First, I need your husband’s proof of life, and if he’s dead, I need a proof of death. Second, information on everyone who did it and third, the location of the vehicle. If Ricky can give all that, I can help him. But the attorney said that I needed to clear Sta. Isabel first to the media. I got angry. The cart went before the horse. ‘We have nothing to talk about here,’ I said.)

PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, in the same media briefing, echoed Dumlao’s sentiment.

“Look how they’re twisting facts to make us look bad? Kami na nga nadidiin sa mga kasamaan na ginawa ng asawa niya ngayon lalo pa kaming pasasamain (We’re the ones getting caught in the middle of the evil things that he is doing, and now he’s making us look even worse),” Dela Rosa said.

READ: PNP chief Bato: SPO3 Sta. Isabel is lying

He said they will consider all information and evidence Jinky presented to the media “but we will not be dictated by what she wants us to do.”

Dumlao added that they have started their financial investigation against Sta. Isabel and his wife. JE/rga