Wearing bullet-proof jacket and helmet, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel - tagged as the one who strangled to death a Korean businessman they kidnapped on a fake anti-drug mission - is transferred under heavy security from the NBI to the PNP's Anti-kidnapping Group. EDD GUMBAN, PHILIPPINE STAR
Was the kidnapping and killing of Korean businessman Ji Ick-joo, allegedly inside Camp Crame, timed to be done when most of the key people of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG) were in Abu Dhabi for the extradition of drug lord Kerwin Espinosa?
PNP probers are looking into this, while checking out the background of people, including active-duty and retired officers, who might also have played key roles in the Korean's Oct. 18, 2016 kidnapping and subsequent death by strangulation.
The case has thrown the PNP's vaunted war on drugs in turmoil, sparking calls for the PNP chief's resignation and a demand for justice by the South Korean government, while surfacing the ugly side of rogue cops misusing the anti-drug campaign in what has been called "Tokhang for ransom".
News5 sources said probers are struck by the coincidence: the kidnapping and killing, done in the AIDG's facilities in Camp Crame on the night of Oct. 18, happened when most of the AIDG was busy with the high-profile mission to bring back Espinosa from Abu Dhabi, where he had been arrested.
Supt. Rafael Dumlao, the AIDG team leader supervising SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, the alleged policeman-killer of Ji Ick-joo, has been placed on restrictive custody in Camp Crame. He is among those listed in a warrant of arrest after the Justice department issued a resolution finding probable cause against Sta. Isabel, an "Alyas Dumao" who is a senior officer, and six others. They face kidnapping for ransom with homicide charges.
A separate case for illegal detention - for taking away as well Ji's Filipino housemaid - is under preliminary investigation.
Besides Rafael Dumlao, PNP probers suspect one of the five so-called "narco generals" named earlier by President Duterte among those with a hand in Ji's case.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa ordered Supt. Rafael Dumlao III placed on “freezer” status under the custody of the PNP’s Headquarters Support Service.
This means Dumlao has to inform his superiors and must be accompanied by a police escort if he wishes to leave the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame.
One of those also facing charges, SPO4 Roy Villegas, earlier claimed Sta. Isabel misled him and a PO2 Baldovino into believing they were on a legitimate anti-drug mission targeting the Korean businessman, and even joined earlier surveillance trips to the Angeles City subdivision where Ji lived.
Villegas pointed to Sta. Isabel as the one who strangled Ji to death after ordering them to cover his mouth with packaging tape hours after they seized him in Pampanga.
Despite the killing, the group managed to extract a P5-million ransom payment from the Korean's wife, who later went to the police after a second ransom demand was sent without proof of life.
Dumlao has denied his subordinate’s allegation, saying there were witnesses pointing to Sta. Isabel as the killer.
“Contrary to the evidence at hand and the witnesses’ account, everybody is pointing at him,” Dumlao said in a TV interview.
Dela Rosa said he had already talked with Dumlao, and he had the impression that Dumlao is lying. “He is hiding something,” he said.
Dela Rosa, citing the information from a witness, said Sta. Isabel and Dumlao were there when Ji was killed inside the AIDG headquarters in Camp Crame.
He did not reveal other details provided by the witness, who is now in their custody.
According to Dela Rosa, Sta. Isabel threatened to drag into the fray everyone else if someone speaks out.
“He [Sta. Isabel] was threatening Dumlao and his companions,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said Sta. Isabel had warned his fellow officers that he knows the location of their respective families. “Now he is trying to become the least guilty person."
The PNP chief rejected the notion of tapping Sta. Isabel to be state witness.
Palace: no kid gloves
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa said President Duterte is very angry over the case, and Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo gave assurances there will be no whitewash.
Sta. Isabel’s defense counsel earlier withdrew from the case, citing death threats.
The police officer is now represented by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).
On Friday, Sta. Isabel was transferred from the National Bureau of Investigation main office in Manila to Camp Crame, and taken into custody by the PNP-Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG).
The AKG served the copy of the arrest warrant against Sta. Isabel and seven others issued by the Angeles City, Pampanga Regional Trial Court Branch 58.
“The NBI drafted Sta. Isabel’s statement in the presence of two lawyers,” a Philstar source said, referring to the PAO lawyers.
The Department of Justice on Friday filed the case against Sta. Isabel, SPO4 Roy Villegas, Ramon Yalung and four other policemen who were only identified as “Pulis,” “Jerry,” “Sir Dumlao” and “Ding.”
http://interaksyon.com/article/136428/watch--timing-of-ji-ick-joo-kidnap-slay-curious-team-leader-of-killer-cop-relieved
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