8 more charged in Korean’s kidnap-slay

Three senior officials of the National Bureau of Investigation and five employees of a funeral parlor have been included in the criminal cases filed by the Philippine National Police in the kidnap-slaying of South Korean executive Jee Ick-joo.

In an 11-page complaint it filed before the Department of Justice, the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) brought four more charges against primary suspects Supt. Rafael Dumlao, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and six other accused in Jee’s gruesome killing, which showed that President Rodrigo Duterte’s unyielding narcotics crackdown was prone to abuses as feared by human rights groups.

Added as respondents were sacked NBI-National Capital Region chief Ricardo Diaz, former NBI deputy director for investigative services Jose Yap and Roel Bolivar, erstwhile head of the NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs.

NBI director Dante Gierran relieved the officials from their posts after Dumlao accused them of having a hand in Jee’s abduction and murder, which also prompted Duterte to bar the NBI and the PNP from conducting drug raids. —Marlon Ramos