CA allows state witness testimony in Jee Ick Joo kidnap-slay case

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals has upheld a local court’s decision that allowed a government witness in the kidnap-slay case of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.

The CA’s 13th Division acted on a petition for certiorari filed by SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, one of the accused in the case that seeks to bar SPO4 Roy Villegas to testify in the kidnapping for ransom with homicide case at Angeles City, Pampanga Regional Trial Court Branch 58.

Sta. Isabel first opposed the testimony of Villegas before the Pampanga court, through a motion for reconsideration.

Villegas, in his affidavit, pointed to Sta. Isabel as the one who strangled Jee to his death. This happened inside the police headquarters in Quezon City.

But the local court dismissed Sta. Isabel’s motion. He then elevated his case to the Court of Appeals.

Sta. Isabel told the CA: “Accused Villegas does not qualify as a state witness and that unless the public respondent is enjoined from continuing hearings, the rights of petitioner would be violated.”

But the appellate court said that Sta. Isabel failed to “sufficiently establish the alleged grave and irreparable injury he stands to suffer if the relief prayed for is not granted.”

The court stressed: “Mere allegation of the possibility of irreparable damage without proof of actual existing right is not a ground for the issuance thereof.”

The CA, however, ordered the state prosecutors to file an answer to Sta. Isabel’s appeal within 10 days. The state’s comment “will be treated as an answer to the petition in the event that the same is given due course,” the resolution read. Sta. Isabel may also file his reply to the DOJ’s comment.

The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Myra Garcia-Fernandez, while Associate Justices Ramon Garcia and Germano Francisco Legaspi concurred with the ruling.

State prosecutors earlier sought the transfer of detention of the three accused in the case—Sta. Isabel, Supt. Rafael Dumlao III and "runner" Jerry Omlang—to a jail in Angeles City, Pampanga.

According to the resolution issued by the DOJ, Jee was killed by policemen inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. The Korean businessman was kidnapped from his residence in Angeles City, Pampanga under the guise of an anti-drug operation. — Kristine Joy Patag