Aguirre: Golf set found at funeral parlor may have been planted

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The golf set recovered by the police from the funeral parlor in Caloocan City where the body of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was taken may have been “planted,” according to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

In an interview on Sunday, Aguirre said a separate probe by the National Bureau of Investigation of Jee’s abduction and murder could be headed on a collision course with the inquiry of the Philippine National Police.

Different results

“This case is really deep. There are several circumstances which we should look into more closely,” Aguirre told the Inquirer over the phone.

“At the rate things are going, the results of the investigation of the NBI and the PNP could be different,” he said.

“If that happens, the results of the investigation could be consolidated and it’s up to the prosecutors to determine which is more believable,” he added.

SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, the alleged mastermind, has been placed under the custody of his unit, the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, after a regional trial court in Angeles City ordered his arrest on Friday for kidnapping with homicide filed by the Department of Justice.

Questionable evidence

Despite his indictment, Aguirre cited three circumstances that could affect the case against Sta. Isabel and two of his coaccused.

For one, he said, the Toyota vehicle that Sta. Isabel allegedly used in committing the crime had a “twin vehicle.”

“The vehicles had the same license plate number, year model and color. But one of the vehicles, which was registered under the name of Sta. Isabel’s wife Jinky, had a (cargo) carrier. One of the vehicles also did not have a conduction sticker,” he said.

The justice secretary also noted that NBI agents did not find the golf set, which Jee supposedly owned, when they searched Gream Funeral Parlor on Tuesday.

“When the policemen went there the following day, they recovered the golf set. If this was true, then it could have been planted,” Aguirre said.

In addition, he wondered why Sta. Isabel did not kill Jee’s housemaid Marisa Morquicho, who was abducted along with her employer from the Korean’s house in Angeles on Oct. 18 last year.

“If he really did it, Sta. Isabel should have killed the housemaid because he supposedly abducted the victims without covering his face to hide his identity. But he let her go and even gave her P1,000 for her taxi fare,” he said./rga