Panelo to fly to South Korea to offer PH apology

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered his chief presidential legal counsel to travel to South Korea to apologize for the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

In a speech after the oathtaking of newly appointed generals of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Duterte said he already asked lawyer Salvador Panelo to go to Seoul and offer a “good apology.”

“I had to apologize almost to every Korean who would come here, to the ambassador, to the Korean people. I think Panelo is going there. I told him to make a good apology,” he said.

“Ang pinakabastos sa lahat, ang pinakamasakit daw sa kanila is talagang flushing down the drain sa toilet bowl. Nasaktan sila. Maski gawain sa atin yan,” he added.

(The most disrespectful, painful to them (South Korean) was the fact that Jee’s ashes were flushed down the toilet bowl. They were hurt. This is disgusting even if this happens to us (Filipinos).

Duterte was referring to the day that Jee was murdered by rogue

The President earlier apologized to South Korea for the murder of its national, who was kidnapped in the guise of an illegal drug operation dubbed as “tokhang for ransom.”

“I apologize for the death of your compatriot. We are very sorry that it had to happen,” he said in a speech during the inauguration of a power plant in Sarangani on January 26.

Jee’s case and a series of scandals in which officers were caught committing murder, extortion and robbery while using the antinarcotics operation as cover have sparked public outrage that prompted the Philippine National Police to suspend the controversial antinarcotics operations to make way for a cleansing of the ranks.

The move was made after the President admitted that the police force prosecuting his brutal war on drugs was “corrupt to the core.”

Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Duterte gave the order to suspend the war on drugs./ac/rga