44 Angeles City cops relieved, 7 charged for robbery-extortion of 3 Koreans
CAMP JULIAN OLIVAS, Pampanga – Forty-four members of the Angeles City Police Station 5 (ACPO) including the Chief of the Angeles City Police Senior Supt. Sidney Villaflor, Police (Station 5) Chief Inspector Wendel Arinas and his deputy commander Senior Inspector Rolando Yutuc were relieved from their posts over the robbery-extortion of three South
Korean tourists last December and the kidnap-slay of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.
Of the 44, seven – PO1 Jayson Ibe, PO1 Ruben Rodriguez II, PO1 Mark Joseph Pineda, PO2 Richard King Agapito, PO3 Arnold Nagayo, PO3 Roentjen Domingo and PO3 Gomerson Evangelista – were charged with extortion, kidnapping and serious illegal detention before the City Prosecutors Office Tuesday for the staged arrest and detention of three South Korean tourists who were in the Philippines to play golf when the incident happened on December 30, 2016.
The Korean victims told police investigators that the seven cops under the pretext of a raid barged into their house at an upscale subdivision in Angeles City and accused them of operating an illegal online gambling. Finding no evidence, the seven cops reportedly took computers, pieces of jewelry, golf sets, golf shoes and 110,000 cash.
The victims who were detained for seven hours at Station 5 said they paid the seven cops 1300,000 for their release.
Legitimate operation? Yesterday, a fuming Philippine National Police chief Director Gen. Ronald dela Rosa motored to Angeles City to confront the seven cops and dressed them down publicly for shaming their police uniform and the PNP.
One of the cop-suspects replied that it was a “legitimate operation,” to which an angry Dela Rosa spewed, “what kind of legitimate operation is that? Why did you extort money from them? Why did you maul them? Did you enter the police force to become a syndicate?”
The seven cops who were made to line up were then ordered to do pushups.
Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan requested Dela Rosa to assign policemen who have no pending criminal cases.
“Those who have been charged and have pending cases should never be reinstated because they destroy the image of the police force here,” Pamintuan stressed.
The PNP is still reeling from the kidnap-slay of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo by five policemen and two other cohorts when the case of the Korean golfers surfaced.
Jee and his Filipina house help Marissa Morquicho were abducted at his home inside the Friendship Plaza subdivision in Angeles City last October 18 and brought to Camp Crame, the police headquarters and reportedly strangled at a spot only a stone’s throw away from Dela Rosa’s official residence on the day he was abducted. Yet 12 days after killing him, the suspects demanded from his widow a ransom of 18 million.
The alleged mastermind Supt. Rafael Dumlao is under custody of the Headquarters Support Service. The other suspects SPO4 Ricky Sta. Isabel is under custody of the National Bureau of Investigation. SPO4 Roy Villegas is under PNP custody while SPO4 Ramon Yalung is detained at the Angeles city jail.
The Department of Justice has summoned Dumlao, Sta. Isabel, Yalung, Villegas, PO2 Christopher Baldovino, NBI volunteer Jerry Omlang and the owner of Gream funeral parlor Gerard Santiago to appear before state prosecutors headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera for a hearing on the Jee kidnap-slay tomorrow afternoon. Santiago and Omlang are under custody of the NBI. Also summoned to appear are Morquicho and Christopher Alan Gruenberg, the alleged owner of one of the vehicles used in the Jee abduction.
Safety assured
Chief Supt. Aaron N. Aquino, Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) director said the 44 are under police custody. On Tuesday, Aquino said they met with representatives of the Korean Community Association in Angeles City and local government officials and police directors in the region.
After the robbery-extortion incident, the Korean victims hurriedly left for South Korea in fear of their lives. But one of the victims, Lee Ki Hoon came back to file robbery and kidnapping charges against the seven cops. He was accompanied by two witnesses, one of them Tomas Jung, who allegedly gave the ransom to the accused officers.
Aquino said the meeting was called to assure the Koreans of their safety and convince them to report crimes committed by policemen so that justice will be served.
Aquino also said he will make public all the names and contact numbers of city and police provincial directors in Central Luzon to Korean nationals so they could immediately report crimes committed against them, especially by policemen.
Also present during the meeting were Kyung Ho Yoon, consular assistant of Korea based in Olongapo City, Kiyoung Kim and Bong Hee Bae, presidents of Korean communities in Angeles and Olongapo cities, respectively. (With a report from Jeffrey G. Damicog)