One of accused in Jee Ick-joo slay case eyes bail

One of the accused in the abduction and killing of South Korean executive Jee Ick-joo on Friday asked the Angeles City, Pampanga Regional Trial Court Branch 58 to allow him to post bail on the ground that the evidence against him is weak.

In a five-page petition for bail, Ramon Yalung said the result of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigation did not identify him as one of those who participated in the abduction and killing of Jee.

He added that co-accused Senior Police Officer Roy Villegas and respondent Jerry Omlang, who both admitted their participation to the crime, also did not name him as their cohort.

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“Jerry Omlang and SPO4 Roy Villegas both did not name herein accused as part of the group who abducted, detained and later killed Jee Ick Joo. Neither did they mention his presence in the crime scene on that day,” the petition stated.

Yalung said his name was only dragged into the case because of the Toyota Innova with plate number TXS-763 owned by his mother was seen trailing the vehicles that abducted Jee.

However, he said the vehicle has been leased since July 2016 to a Korean named Lee Seung Tae.

He said they gave the necessary documents to prove their claim. The police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) asked that their pictures be taken to which they agreed. The picture was then shown to Jee’s house help who said Yalung was one of those who kidnapped her boss.

Yalung argued that on Oct. 18, the day Jee was abducted, he was with a former employer where they discussed about their transport business, visited his mother and had a Facebook messenger chat with his girlfriend. He added that on the same day in the evening where Jee was supposed to be in Camp Crame in Quezon City, he attended a send-off party for a friend in Angeles City in Pampanga.

“Accused comes before the Honorable Court on bended knees to plead for his provisional liberty,” Yalung said in his petition as he insisted he is innocent of the crime of kidnapping for ransom with homicide.

Yalung also pointed out that he is the only accused in the case who is detained in the Pampanga City Jail while his supposed co-accused were either at the NBI or under restrictive custody at the PNP. Omlang, Gerardo Santiago (owner of Gream Funeral Services), SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel are all at the NBI while Villegas and Superintendent Rafael Dumlao are under restrictive custody of the PNP. IDL