The country’s top cop on Wednesday denied that they just made up the information on the alleged involvement of three National Bureau of Investigation agents in the kidnapping of a Korean businessman last week.
“I don’t want to cover up on anything. ’Yun ang lumabas sa investigation and we never made up that story,” PNP chief Ronald Dela Rosa told reporters at the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City, as he defended the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group from the accusation of a coverup.
“Sinabi ko nga merong 3 alleged NBI. Bakit hindi ko sabihin ’yan, lumabas sa investigation namin. Gusto niyo itago ko. Anong purpose nun itago ko?” he added.
Dela Rosa made the statement a day after NBI Director Dante Gierran announced that his agency was considering filing charges against the PNP for issuing a statement based on “unverified” information, saying it could “damage” the NBI’s credibility.
Last Monday, Dela Rosa relayed to the media the possible involvement of NBI agents in the kidnapping of Lee Jung Dae, who was taken from Angeles City, Pampanga and was rescued in Manila last Saturday.
The PNP chief clarified on Wednesday that he based his information on testimonies from a victim and a suspect in the kidnapping.
“Sinabi na may NBI na kasama, 3 then sinabi ko pa nga na alleged NBI agents dahil hindi namin kilala pero that’s coming from the mouth of the victim and the mouth of the accused, suspect nangagaling yan,” Dela Rosa said.
When asked what he thought about Gierran’s allegations, the PNP chief said he had stomached situations wherein a police officer is involved in a crime.
“Wala akong problema kay director Gierran. Sabi ko nga sa kanila, kung merong pulis na involved, hindi man ako nahihiya na may pulis na involved. Please, kung may pulis na involved sa kalokohan upakan nyo. After all we are after internal cleansing, after good governance na gusto natin maayos gobyerno na hindi masira. Hindi yung magkublihan tayo na ang purpose ko naman doon hindi ako naninira ng ahensya. Kung pulis, aminin ko man kung… corrupt na PNP, hulihin. Wala man tayo tinatago dito,”he said.
“We did not make up that story. Totoo yan. Sorry kung nasaktan sila. Ako rin, nasasaktan din ako kapag may pulis nai-involve sa krimen kahit na unverified basta lumabas ang pangalan ng pulis, well we have to accept that na may nangyayari talaga,” Dela Rosa added.
The PNP chief said he would speak with the NBI regarding their investigation.
Last Tuesday, the NBI defended its agents assigned in Pampanga, saying they had no participation in any operation involving a Korean citizen being apprehended or being forcibly taken into custody and detention, on the date of the incident where the victim was kidnapped.
On Wednesday, Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, chief of the PNP-AKG, asked the NBI to prove the innocence of their Pampanga-based agents instead of threatening to press charges against the police.
“Once may allegation kahit konting allegation ’yan, it’s our responsibility as part of our accountability na [to] come forward makipagtulungan at prove otherwise. ’Yon ang tamang gawin, hindi iyong kakasuhan ang PNP,” Dumlao had said in a statement.
The AKG report said that the suspects had allegedly confessed they kidnapped Lee with the help of operatives from the Bureau of Immigration, as well.
As this developed, a suspected Korean drug dealer was immediately deported by immigration authorities who is wanted in his country for distributing Philipon drug, known as a “Japanese murder drug,” upon his arrival at the Mactan international airport in Cebu.
The Korean fugitive, identified as Oh Joohwan was intercepted upon his arrival at the Mactan airport aboard an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Oh was sent back to Seoul while escorted by prosecutors and anti-drug investigators from Korea’s Ministry of Justice.
Immigration commissioner Jaime Morente said the Korean was immediately excluded upon his arrival after the BI database at the airport showed that he is wanted in Korea for violating his country’s control of narcotics act.
Korean authorities reported that sometime between June and August this year Oh and his accomplice posted in an Internet advertisement selling the prohibited drug called philopon to interested buyers.
During this period, the suspects allegedly sold an undetermined amount of the philopon drug to several buyers over 314 times and from which they earned profit amounting to more than 207.2 million Korean won or around P9.6 million.
Philopon has been tagged as largely responsible for the rise of juvenile crime rate in Japan where more one and a half million people, many of whom aged under 20 years, are allegedly addicted to the said drug.
It was said that during WWII, Japanese soldiers and pilots used the drug to commit murderous act and to end their own lives after they were defeated.
BI port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas said it was only last Oct. 31 that the Interpol issued a red notice alerting Philippine authorities about his criminal record and on the possibility that he might enter the country.
The police attaché of the Korean consultate in Cebu had earlier warned BI-Mactan airport officials led by immigration head supervisor Nelson Gallentes and travel control and enforcement chief Ricardo Buhay that Oh might harm his co-passengers if he were allowed to board his flight alone, considering that he is a fugitive wanted for selling psychotropic drugs.