The Department of Justice. (Photo by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net)
Supt. Rafael Dumlao III snubbed on Friday the first day of the reinvestigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the abduction and slaying of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.
Dumlao was the only one among the eight respondents charged with kidnapping for ransom with homicide who did not show up for the DOJ hearing, which was attended by Jee’s wife, Choi Kyung-jin, and her househelp, Marisa Davis Morquicho, who was abducted along with her husband.
Dumlao’s lawyer Ricardo Moldez II claimed that Dumlao was in the vicinity of the DOJ building on Padre Faura Street in Manila.
“He is in the area but according to him, for security reasons he preferred not to appear,” said Moldez.
The accused whe attended were SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, SPO4 Roy Villegas, PO2 Christopher Baldovino, Ramon Yalung, Jerry Omlang, Gerardo Santiago, and Christopher Alan Gruenberg.
All of them wore bulletproof vests in the hearing.
This was the first time that the all the accused were e assembled in one room with the grieving Choi.
The DOJ panel of prosecutors ordered Moldez to compel Dumlao to attend the next hearing on Feb. 16.
The DOJ gave the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) five days to submit their pleadings, including the proposal to create a joint task force to investigate the killing.
The DOJ clarified that Morquicho was a witness and not one of the accused.
Santiago, the owner of the funeral parlor where Jee’s body was taken, also requested for inclusion into the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ. /atm