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Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Korean charged with rape
CEBU -- Two Manila-based Koreans, whom police claim are members of a Korean syndicate, have been identified as the brains behind the November 29 killing of two South Korean traders in Lapu-Lapu City.
The police are also looking into a possible link between last month's shooting and the one last June 28 when another Korean national, Jong Woo-Lim, was wounded.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 chief Robert Delfin revealed Tuesday that they got information that Cho Yoon Sik and Kim Suk Chin, both 52, were killed for failing to give protection money to the masterminds.
However, this Korean gang, which Delfin likened to the Yakuza in Japan and the mafia in Italy, does not exist in Cebu, only in Manila.
Delfin did not offer any evidence, though. Neither did he say who these Korean gangsters are nor how they will be arrested.
The syndicate allegedly hired two local gunmen, believed to be residents of Mactan Island, to kill Cho and Kim, he said.
Delfin received a report that the two masterminds have already fled the country.
"I don't want to believe that but I feel bad," K.H. Rhee, Cebu Korean Tourism Association spokesman, said in a mobile phone interview.
Although Rhee refused to comment more on the involvement of a Korean syndicate, he did not discount this possibility.
"We can only make our official comment once the police arrest the suspects," he said.
Sun.Star contacted the mobile phone of Johnny Back, Cebu Korean Association chairman, but failed to reach him.
An association of Koreans in Cebu put up a P1-million reward to those who can give information leading to identification of the gunmen and the mastermind.
The twin killings have drawn a warning from the South Korean ambassador on a possible travel advisory against Cebu.
Meanwhile, the Lapu-Lapu City police launched a manhunt for Alejandro "Tata" Betir, 32, who allegedly shot and wounded Woo-Lim in Barangay Panga, Lapu-Lapu City last June. Lim was blinded by the attack.
Baguio and his men swooped down on the house of Betir in Barangay Cogon, Cordova town, but he was not there, only his wife and three children.
The raiding team brought with them an arrest warrant issued by the Lapu-Lapu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) against Betir for frustrated murder. A bail of P200,000 was recommended.
Accused with Betir in the June shooting are Jerry Taghoy, Eddie Lofranco and a certain Jun-jun. A fifth suspect, Agapito Bautista, was arrested days after the Lim shooting.
The team led by Homicide Chief Geoffrey Baguio seized Betir's L200 Yamaha motorcycle (X-3156), which the suspects allegedly used in fleeing from the crime scene.
Oppus said they are relying on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine if the motorcycle was the one used in the killing.
Baguio said the plate number was tampered because the first letter was missing.
Witnesses identified the motorcycle as the one used by the assailants of Cho and Kim, who were ambushed in Barangay Marigondon as they were heading home about 10:30 p.m. last November 29.
Oppus believed that Betir, a native of Lubang, Buenavista, Bohol, could have something to do in the killing of Choo and Kim because of a pattern in the incidents.
Jong, 48, was shot outside his restaurant in Sitio Soong 2, Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City, last June 28. He survived the attack.
In those two incidents, Oppus noted that the killers used a .45 pistol and carried out the attack at nighttime.
The PNP special task force and the NBI 7 will hold a case conference on the twin killings today. GC/OCP
(December 10, 2003 issue)
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