At the same time RTC Branch 58 Judge Percival Pangilinan set on Monday afternoon the arraignment of Sta. Isabel, SPO4 Roy Villegas, Ramon Yalung, PO2 Ramon Baldovino and four other “John Does” listed only as “Pulis,” “Jerry,”, “Sir Dumlao,” and “Ding.”
Despite the granting of custody at Crame, the Public Attorney’s Office, which has provided Santa Isabel with counsel, said it would ask the court to transfer Santa Isabel to the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Pangilinan issued a warrant of arrest last week against Sta. Isabel and the others for the kidnapping and murder of Korean Jee Ick-Joo in October last year. The suspects were arrested by the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), led by Senior Supt. Alan Macapagal and AKG counsel Dennis Wagas.
The Clerk of Court office’s Socorro Garces said the Department of Justice is expected to file amended information once the identities of the John Does are established.
Sta. Isabel and the other respondents are facing kidnapping for ransom and homicide charges victimizing Jee whom they forcibly took from his home at the posh Friendship Plaza near this city’s so-called Koreatown in Barangay Anunas on October 18 last year.
Jee was reported killed on the same day in PNP’s Camp Crame headquarters in Quezon City. His remains were then brought to a funeral parlor owned by a retired policeman in Caloocan City, then cremated in a nearby crematorium.
After killing Jee, the abductors still demanded ransom from his wife, who gave P5 million.
The Angeles RTC Executive Judge Omar Viola has prohibited media from covering hearings on the case within the sala of Pangilinan.
