Cop, maid to testify in Korean slay case

Choi Kyung-jin (left), wife of slain Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, appears in an Angeles City court with Marissa Morquicho (center), the family’s maid who is set to testify in the killing of Jee. —LYN RILLON

ANGELES CITY—A policeman accused of killing Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo in Camp Crame in 2016 and a former errand boy of the National Bureau of Investigation offered to turn state witnesses against Jee’s suspected killers during the resumption of their trial here on Thursday.

SPO4 Roy Villegas asked Judge Ireneo Pangilinan Jr. of the Angeles Regional Trial Court to drop him from the case when he submitted his sworn affidavit signifying he had become a witness of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

But lawyers representing the accused—Supt. Rafael Dumlao III, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and Gerardo Gregorio Santiago, GREAM funeral services owner—blocked Villegas’ testimony when the prosecution called him to the witness stand.

They asked for seven days to comment on Villegas’ motion to be accepted as a state witness. Villegas, Dumlao, Sta. Isabel, Santiago and Jerry Omlang, who did odd jobs for the NBI, are standing trial for kidnapping with ransom and homicide.

Lawyer Myra Janina Banaga, Villegas’ counsel, said the DOJ had accepted her client’s offer to testify against Dumlao and Sta. Isabel but they needed to ask the court to approve it.

Being a policeman, however, Villegas may not be taken under the witness protection program, she said.

Marissa Morquicho, a maid of Jee, was the other witness scheduled to testify on Thursday but she would be presented instead in the next hearing on Sept. 28.

During the hearing on Thursday, Omlang also signified his intention to testify against his coaccused. He was the civilian who allegedly stood watch during a police stakeout of Jee.

The Korean was abducted in Angeles City and killed inside Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, on Oct. 18, 2016.

Except for Dumlao and Sta. Isabel, the rest of the defendants have not filed their motions for bail, prompting Omlang’s lawyer to say that her client would not seek temporary liberty because he feared for his life.

Omlang said he preferred to stay with Sta. Isabel in the NBI. Villegas, Dumlao and Santiago are in PNP custody. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE