Maid relates last moments she saw Jee Ick-joo alive

Choi Kyung Jin, the widow of Korean National Jee Ick Joo, and their househelp Marissa Morquicho at the Senate Hearing on Tokhang for Ransom. INQUIRER PHOTO/ALEXIS CORPUZ

The last time she saw her boss, South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, alive was when he was struggling to breathe soon after being punched by his abductors inside a moving vehicle.

This was how Jee’s house help , Marisa Morquicho, described during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Thursday her last moments with the businessman.

Jee, along with the house help, was seized from his house in Angeles City, Pampanga in an alleged anti-drug operation last October 18. Unlike her boss, Morquicho was freed unharmed by police operatives allegedly led by SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel.

“Noong nasa loob po kami ng sasakyan, pagkalabas po namin ng subdivision, nakalagpas kami sa tulay ng Anonas, ano po bigla pong nagpupumiglas si sir tapos binugbog po nila, sinuntok po nila,” Morquicho said when asked by Senator Grace Poe what were the last words she heard from the Korean.

(Inside the vehicle, which left the subdivision and reached the Anonas Bridge, Sir Jee struggled to break free then he was punched by his captors.)

“Tapos bigla pong niliko yung sasakyan tapos sinabi po ni sir na hindi daw po siya makahinga,” she added.

(Then the vehicle made a turn and Sir Jee complained of difficulty in breathing.)

“Pero nandoon ka pa ba nung namatay ang iyong boss?” Poe asked again, to which Morquicho answered no because she said their abductors transferred her to another vehicle.

(Were you present when your boss died?)

The house help positively identified Sta. Isabel during the Senate hearing as one of the policemen who took her and her boss.

“Siya po yung nakita ko po pumasok sa loob ng bahay,” she said, still responding to Poe’s queries.

(He’s the one who entered the house.)

“Ang na-identify ko lang po ay si Sta. Isabel po at saka po si SPO4 Villegas po,” Morquicho said, referring to Senior Police Officer4 Roy Villegas, one of the accused in Jee’s kidnap-slay.

(I  can only identify Sta. Isabel and SPO4 Villegas.)

While inside the house, Morquicho said she heard Sta. Isabel answering a phone call from a “boss.”

“Anong sinasabi niya sa boss niya?” Poe asked.

(What did he tell his boss?)

“Kasi ang last po na tawag sa kanya, tinanong po kung positive o negative, sabi niya po, negative po,” Morquicho said, explaining later that the police did not find illegal drugs inside Jee’s house.

(He was asked if it’s positive or negative and he answered negative.)

“Wala pong nakitang droga kasi po yung inaano po nila kay Sir nagbebenta daw po ng droga,” she said.

(No drugs were found in the house of Jee who was being accused of selling drugs.)

Sta. Isabel, who was also in the hearing, repeatedly denied killing the Korean victim./ac/rga