MANILA -- The Court of Appeals (CA) denied the petition filed by a policeman who is a suspect in the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo in October 2016 seeking to reverse the ruling of the Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Pampanga which granted the motion filed by state prosecutors to discharge one of his co-accused and turn him into a state witness.
In a five-page resolution dated June 11 penned by Associate Justice Myra Garcia-Fernandez and concurred by Associate Justices Ramon Garcia and Germano Francisco Legaspi, the CA’s 13th Division denied the petition of accused Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel for a restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction against the testimony of SPO4 Roy Villegas.
Sta. Isabel opposed the testimony of Villegas when he filed a motion for reconsideration assailing the Angeles City RTC resolution last January.
However, his plea was dismissed in a resolution dated March 15, 2018, prompting him to take the case to the appellate court.
“Accused Villegas does not qualify as a state witness and that unless public respondent is enjoined from continuing the hearings, the rights of petitioner would be violated,” Sta. Isabel’s petition before the CA stated.
The CA, however, said that Sta. Isabel failed to establish any “grave and irreparable injury” if Villegas will continue testifying before the Pampanga court.
“Mere allegation of the possibility of irreparable damage without proof of actual existing right is not a ground for the issuance thereof [of a restraining order or a writ of preliminary investigation],” the appeals court said.
“It is an established doctrine that injunction will not lie to enjoin a criminal prosecution because public interest requires that criminal acts be immediately investigated and prosecuted for the protection of society,” the CA noted.
To delve into the merits, the appeals court ordered the government to comment within 10 days from notice on Sta. Isabel’s petition.
In his order, Angeles City RTC Branch 58 Judge Irineo Pangilinan Jr. granted the motion filed by Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors to discharge Villegas as one of the suspects in the criminal cases involving the abduction and murder of Jee Ick Joo in October 2016 and turn him into a state witness.
Pangilinan said Villegas satisfied all the requirements to become a state witness such as the absolute necessity for the accused's testimony, lack of direct evidence for the proper prosecution of the case, and that the accused should not appear to be the most guilty.
“Wherefore, guided by the foregoing hornbook doctrines, the Motion to Discharge Accused SPO4 Roy Villegas as state witness is hereby granted,” read Pangilinan's order dated January 3.
Citing Section 17, Rule 119 of the Revised Rules of Court, Pangilinan explained the law “allows the dismissal of an information as to one of several persons accused of a crime in order that he may be utilized as a witness for the State on condition that he testifies against his co-accused in the commission of the crime.”
Pangilinan said that “from the evidence submitted by the prosecution in support of its motion to discharge accused Villegas, it appears that while accused Villegas directly participated in the execution stage, he had no direct participation in the actual killing of Ick Joo Jee.”
“So far, the records are bereft of evidence that he had active participation in the actual killing of Ick Joo Jee,” he added.
The judge agreed with the point raised by the prosecution that the testimony of Jee’s maid, Marisa Morquicho, was “very limited as it is only confined to the alleged carnapping, kidnapping of victims Ick Joo Jee and Marisa Morquicho, but not on the actual killing of Ick Joo Jee.”
Villegas already appeared and testified before the Pampanga court. His testimony will continue on the trial set on July 12 and 30.
Apart from Sta. Isabel, those who were charged were Supt. Rafael Dumlao, retired policeman Gerardo “Ding” Santiago, and Jerry Omlang.
Dumlao is currently detained at the PNP custodial center in the PNP headquarters in Camp Crime, Quezon City while Sta. Isabel and Umlang at the National Bureau of Investigation custodial center in Manila.
Jee and Morquicho were abducted on Oct. 18, 2016 from his home in Friendship Plaza Subdivision, Angeles City under the pretext that police were conducting anti-illegal drugs operations under “Oplan Tokhang.”
He was strangled to death inside the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame on the same day he was kidnapped, his cremated remains reportedly flushed down the toilet. Morquicho was eventually released.
Although the victim was already dead, the suspects still contacted Jee's wife, Kyungjin Choi, on October 30, 2016 and demanded ransom for his release.
After a series of negotiations, Choi delivered PHP5 million in ransom money in front of the Central Town Mall in Porac, Pampanga on October 31, 2016.
On November 2, 2016, the suspects demanded an additional PHP4 million but Choi refused after they failed to show proof of life. (PNA)
