Koreans seek GMA aid

In behalf of their nationals in the country, the Korean Embassy sought yesterday President Arroyo’s intercession in resolving legal cases filed by Korean investors in the country.

The embassy, through Consul Kim Hong-Ki, and investor group United Korean Community Association asked the President to issue endorsement letters to the Supreme Court for a "judicious and fair" handling of cases filed by Korean businessmen.

The Korean community made the appeal after businessmen Sang Keun Park and Kwon Jung Nham expressed frustration at the progress of their cases against a former Batangas town mayor.

Park, president of the Min Sung Construction Corp. in Batangas City, said he filed an estafa case against former Sta. Teresita town mayor Bayani Andal sometime in 2000 over a business deal gone sour.

Park’s lawsuit was dismissed by the Batangas City prosecutors office but the Department of Justice (DOJ) reveresed the dismissal and recently ordered a reinvestigation of the case.

When the case was submitted for resolution to the Batangas City Regional Trial Court Branch 84, it was dismissed before the arraignment of Andal.

Park appealed the case to the Court of Appeals (CA) but was again dismissed on a technicality and the Korean businessmen appealed the case to the Supreme Court where the case is now pending before the SC’s first division.

Park claimed that he invested some $160,000 in heavy equipment for a quarrying venture with Andal in Tuy, Batangas sometime in 1997 but the deal could not push through because the land Andal allegedly clamed was supposedly owned by another person.

Park claimed that when he asked Andal to return the heavy equipment, the mayor supposedly refused. The STAR tried but failed to contact Andal for comment. — Francis Lagniton