Government to file 2nd request for Strunk

Wycoco said yesterday the government, through the Department of Justice (DOJ), has a stronger case "this time around."

"The assessment of the DOJ is that we have a better chance to extradite Rod Strunk because of new witnesses. In the first one, we only had circumstantial evidence," the NBI chief said.

Strunk was allowed to go to the US last Jan. 21, 2002 to attend to his ailing mother in California. In November 2003, California Judge Gregory Hollows rejected the government’s extradition request due to "conflicting and inconsistent evidence" that were submitted.

Under an extradition treaty between the Philippines and the US, the normal procedure is for the DOJ to gather all pertinent documents on the case and submit them to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which would then forward the request to the US State Department.

This would be turned over to the US Department of Justice, which would act as the lawyer for the Philippine government.

Wycoco personally relayed the new developments on the case to Blanca’s daughter Kaye Torres, who organized a Mass at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City yesterday afternoon to commemorate the death anniversary of her mother.

He said two female witnesses remain under the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the DOJ.

It took the government a long time before filing a follow-up extradition request because of the change in the prosecutor handling the case.

On Nov. 7, 2001, Blanca’s body was found in the trunk of her car that was parked at the sixth floor of the Atlanta Center building in San Juan. She was stabbed several times in the body.

Blanca, Dorothy Jones in real life, was at that time an official of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), which had its offices at the Atlanta Center.

Witnesses claimed that they saw Strunk, along with Philip Medel and businessman Mike Martinez and another man, carrying an unconscious Blanca at Atlanta Center parking area.