Fact-finding panel to review BI probe findings on Korean detainee’s escape

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima has ordered further investigation on the circumstances surrounding the escape of a Korean detainee last Christmas Eve while confined for treatment at the St. Luke’s Medical Center  in Taguig City.

In a Department Order dated March 5, 2012, De Lima formed a fact-finding committee following orders of President Benigno Aquino III.

The panel is composed of City Prosecutor Donald Lee as chairman, Regional Prosecutor Rommel Baligod as vice-chairman, and National Bureau of Investigation Assistant Regional Director Jose Justo Yap and State Counsel Charlene May Tapic as members.

The panel, according to De Lima, shall review the findings of the Bureau of Immigration, which conducted its investigation on allegations of bribery, and determine the accountability of hospital staff and if court processes were used and abused to facilitate his escape.

Last January 12, the Bureau of Immigration filed a complaint for infidelity in the custody of prisoners before the Taguig Prosecutor’s Office against two of its jail guards—Eduardo Dulay and Noel Acedillo—who were assigned to guard Kim Tae Dong in the hospital.

Dulay, a regular employee, had been placed under preventive suspension for 90 days while Acedillo’s service as Immigration’s confidential agent had been terminated.