Arroyo steps into slays of 2 Koreans

CEBU CITY — President Arroyo has stepped into the still unsolved killing of two Korean men in Lapu-Lapu City last Saturday by promising to provide a system of rewards to speed up the identification of the killers.

"We can support them by providing a system of rewards," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Prior to the President’s pronouncement, the local Korean community had started to raise P1 million as bounty to anyone who can give information that would lead to the arrest of the killers.

The President said she has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to deal with the South Korean government which threatened to issue a travel advisory against Cebu if the killings of its two nationals in Marigondon would not be resolved.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, believes that the crime would be solved immediately because the police are on top of the situation.

She said Cebu has the best intelligence officer in the person of regional director Roberto Delfin.

"We try to put the best people in Cebu. Delfin is one of the best," she said.

Businessmen Cho Yoon Sik and Kim Suk Chin were killed by three motorcycle-riding men while they were on their way home on board a rented Mitsubishi Space Wagon last Saturday.

Both owned the Shabu Shabu Ox, a Korean restaurant at the Marina Mall in Lapu-Lapu City.

While police investigators are looking at business rivalry angle as a possible motive behind the killing, Koreans continue to be worried.

Honorary consul in Cebu Augusto Go earlier said the South Korean government has been alarmed by the series of killings in the country that they are mulling to issue a travel advisory against Cebu and the Philippines in general if the killing is unsolved.

Go said one of the assistants of South Korean Ambassador Son Sang Ha who came to Cebu Monday afternoon told him about the plan to issue a travel advisory against Cebu.

Go said alarmed Koreans might also be leaving Cebu very soon because of the incident.

If this would happen, this will make a deep dent on Cebu’s tourism industry, especially that Koreans comprise the largest tourist arrivals in the province.

But Johnny Back, chairman of the Cebu-Korean Association, said their organization is not so alarmed as to issue a travel advisory .

He admitted though that Koreans in Cebu are having a tough time. "They are all nervous and worried because they don’t know who to trust," he said.

Statistics obtained by The Freeman from the Department of Tourism show that 54,000 Koreans arrived in Cebu from January to September this year, compared to 45,000 during the same period in 2002. — Freeman News Service