Funeral home owner, cop to be invited at resumption of Jee probe

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson is expected to call on key witnesses in the gruesome kidnap-slay of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo at the resumption of the Senate hearing on the tokhang-for-ransom case, an incident that has brought shame to the police force and prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to apologize to South Korea.

In a radio interview, Lacson, chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said he would invite SPO4 Roy Villegas, an officer who detailed the Jee’s abduction and murder in October last year, and Gerardo Santiago, a former police officer who owns Gream Funeral Services, where the victim’s ashes were found.

Jee, who was abducted from his home on Oct. 18 in the guise of a drug raid, was killed inside Camp Crame, purportedly by anti-drug operative SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel. He had been dead for nearly two weeks when his kidnappers secured a P5-million ransom from his family.

The incident, which first came to light through an Inquirer interview with his wife Choi Kyung-Jin, has triggered the surfacing of other kidnap-extortion cases where police suspects use President Duterte’s anti-drug war as cover.

READ: Lacson exposes more police scams

Lacson cited the importance of Santiago’s testimony, saying he could shed light on the role of Sta. Isabel and the superior he is tagging as the mastermind of the kidnap-slay, Supt. Raphael Dumlao of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG).

Gerardo Santiago, owner of Gream Funeral Services Tetch Torres-Tupas/INQUIRER.net

READ: ‘Am innocent,’ says owner of funeral home cited in Korean slay

“His (Santiago’s) testimony is crucial. Dumlao and Sta. Isabel are pointing fingers at each other. Sta. Isabel said [Dumlao] just ordered him to give the [victim’s] golf set [to Santiago] as payment,” said Lacson.

READ: Sta. Isabel washes hands off Korean’s kidnap-slay, blames Dumlao

“If Gerardo cooperates, [he could clarify] who is really close to him, Dumlao or Sta. Isabel? There is information from the PNP that Santiago and Sta. Isabel served in the same unit before,” he said.

Villegas is also expected to testify on his first-hand knowledge of the slay case.  He had told authorities that he saw Sta. Isabel strangle Jee. He was also the one who called Santiago to receive Jee’s body with the golf set as payment.

Lacson meanwhile said the PNP should coordinate with the Anti-Money Laundering Council as it continues its financial investigation into Sta. Isabel’s wealth.

“My suggestion to the PNP is to coordinate with AMLC,” said Lacson, adding that this could determine whether the ransom payment ended up in Sta. Isabel’s bank accounts.

Sta. Isabel told the Senate Thursday that his take-home pay is P8,000.  His 2015 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, as reported by the PNP Criminal Investigation Group,  showed that his net worth was P14 million./rga