President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. KARL NORMAN ALONZO/Presidential Photo
MANILA — President Duterte said on Thursday the Philippine government has pinpointed those who kidnapped and murdered Korean business executive Jee Ick Joo and that they would suffer the highest penalty available under the country’s Revised Penal Code and other related laws.
Duterte issued the statement even as the Senate opened an inquiry into Jee Ick Joo’s kidnapping and murder on Thursday and policemen tagged in the heinous crime immediately pointed at each other and insisted on their own innocence.
The President personally apologized for the grisly crime that happened right inside Camp Crame near the official residence of PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new power plant in Sarangani, Mr. Duterte also said the government had pinpointed the identities of those who killed Jee, who died after police seized him from his home using the government’s drug war as a cover.
“I apologize for the death of your compatriot,” Mr. Duterte said.
“We’re very sorry that it had to happen, but I can assure you those responsible are known to us already and they will have to go to prison, and I will see to it that they are sentenced to the maximum,” he added.
The Philippines currently has no death penalty.
The President noted that the death penalty was repealed upon the prodding of the Catholic Church and the “libertarians,” but he had already asked Congress to bring it back.
If death penalty is restored, he said he would hang 20 convicts a day.
He could even send the cadavers to the power plant as fuel, he added, apparently in jest.
Earlier, Mr. Duterte’s spokesperson Ernesto Abella said President Duterte condoled with Jee’s widow, and said the government apologized to the South Korean government and people for the businessman’s death. SFM/rga