US justice attaché to RP appointed

The US government has appointed its own justice attaché to the Philippines to work on pending US-related cases, including the extradition of former Quezon Governor Eduardo Rodriguez and his wife and the deportation of American Rod Lawrence Strunk.

The man assigned to the task is Jeffrey Cole who works as a prosecutor to US-related cases, according to Ricardo Diaz, chief of the National Bureau of Investigation-International Police (NBI-Interpol) Division.

"He works as prosecutor to US-related cases, making it easier for both the Philippines and the US to get information on legal issues," said Diaz, who noted that it was Cole, who updated Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong and other justice officials about the arrest of Strunk in California.

Before Cole’s appointment, he said, both country’s had to communicate and coordinate through the NBI and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which usually takes time.

"We really need somebody like him, now that at least two high profile cases are being tackled in courts both here and in the US," Diaz explained referring to the extradition proceedings against the Rodriguez couple and Strunk.

Rodriguez and his wife Imelda face extradition for alleged insurance fraud after Rodriguez declared that his wife and her mother, Gloria Gener, died in an accident in Antipolo in 1985.

The former Quezon province governor allegedly collected $150,00 in death benefits from a US-based firm, which later learned about the deceit and filed the charges, causing the extradition case.

On the other hand, the RP government wants Strunk extradited to face trial for the murder of his actress wife Nida Blanca on Nov. 7, 2001.

Strunk was tagged as the mastermind in the murder by self-confessed killer Philip Medel, who claimed the American commissioned him to do the job for P50,000.

Medel later retracted his confession but this did not stop the DOJ and the NBI from filing charges against him in a Pasig court, which eventually issued a warrant of arrest against Strunk.

The arrest order resulted in an extradition case against Strunk, who was arrested by US marshals last Tuesday. Strunk’s lawyers have vowed to fight the extradition case.

Blank wall

Despite the arrest of Strunk and incarceration of Medel, the NBI remains clueless on the identities of two other suspects in the killing of Blanca.

"Wala pa, (still nothing)," said Ros Bautista, deputy director of NBI-National Capital Region when asked about the other suspects in the killing of the actress on Nov. 7, 2001.

The two suspects were among those charged with murder before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court but they were identified only as Jane Doe and John Doe in the charge sheet.

A source from the NBI said investigators have already identified the two suspects, but defered the announcement for failure to get material and solid evidence to link them to the murder of Blanca, Dorothy Jones in real life.

Witnesses claimed two persons were with Strunk and Medel in killing Blanca in 2001. The body of the actress, with 13 stab wounds, was found inside her green Nissan car parked at the 6th floor of the Atlanta Center on Annapolis street, Greenhills, San Juan.

Atlanta Center used to house the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), in which Blanca was one of the board members.