Duterte won't tolerate police abuse, Palace says

Malacañang on Friday assured the public that abusive policemen will not be tolerated under the Duterte administration, following the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo allegedly by a group of policemen.

"Regarding the murdered Korean businessman, the President will not tolerate any police abuse," chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said in a briefing. "All these police scalawags will be dealt with and prosecuted to the fullest under the law."

Jee was taken from his home in Angeles City, Pampanga, last October by members of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG) led by SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel.

On Tuesday, government agents probing the abduction announced that Jee was dead after receiving information that his body was brought to a funeral home in Caloocan City owned by Gerardo Santiago, a barangay chairman and a retired policeman.

Police investigators, citing statements from witnesses, said Jee was strangled inside Camp Crame. A policeman, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, was tagged as his killer.

Panelo, in Friday's briefing, assured the public that the law will be strictly enforced regarding police scalawags.

"Again, the assurance will always be that the government will be strict in the enforcement of the law. That will be always the guarantee, so that those who will violate it will know beforehand that they’re going to risk themselves of either being killed, jailed or die in an electric chair or death penalty imposed by law," he said.

Panelo also said Jee's killing will not affect the PNP's Oplan Tokhang, or its campaign against illegal drugs. Witnesses said the businessman's abduction was perpetrated by the suspects in the guise of an anti-drug operation.

"Any impairment by reason of this incident will not affect the success of the project,” Panelo said.

Panelo also downplayed the statement of Human Rights Watch that there is a breakdown of rule of law under the Duterte administration.

"Well in a hundred percent scenario, there’s only less than one percent. How can there be a breakdown?” he said.

Referring to Jee's killing, he said: "It’s an isolated case." —KBK, GMA News