Duterte dismisses drug angle in King slay

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte rejected rumors circulating in the city last Friday evening that the murder of Cebu hotelier Richard King was related to illegal drugs.

“It has nothing to do with drugs. The police would not lie if it was,” Duterte told reporters.

Speculation about drugs started after investigation showed that King, a chemical engineer, had been implicated in the smuggling of pseudoephedrine in Cebu some months ago.

While the chemical is widely used in nasal decongestants, it is also an ingredient in the manufacture of “shabu”, which is also known as crystal meth or methampehtamine hydrochloride.

But Duterte said the authorities were not even considering the involvement of illegal drugs in the murder of the 57-year-old hotelier.

Instead, he said, investigators were looking into several other angles, including King’s businesses in Davao, Cebu, Boracay, Makati and even in Palawan.

Duterte cut short his press conference last Friday evening when two members of the King family arrived.

They talked behind close doors, after which Duterte announced he was adding P300,000 to the P200,000 reward initially offered by the King family for information leading to the arrest of the killer. “That would make it P500,000,” Duterte said.

Senior Supt. Joel Pernito, head of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Mindanao, said an inter-agency task force has been formed to investigate the killing.

He said the investigation would not be confined to Davao City but would also include other places where King operated businesses.

King was in the news several times in the past in connection with various controversies.

He once accused a judge of soliciting bribes from him for a favorable ruling in a case in 2002 and claimed that in 2007, then Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza had demanded a P15 million bribe from contractor Nelson Yu.

“All angles are being looked into, including a possible business rivalry,” Danao said.

The Cebu City Police Office has sent four officers to help secure the chapel where King’s wake is being held. House detectives from Crown Regency Hotel were also deployed to secure the chapel and screen visitors.

Reporters were barred from entering the chapel.

“We will be having a meeting to assess the police presence at St. Peter’s if we need to deploy more of our men,” Supt. Emily Santos, Cebu City police operations branch chief said.

The hotelier’s remains is scheduled to be interred on Wednesday at the Cebu Memorial Park.
Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña visited King’s wake on Saturday.

Crown Regency Hotel security personnel said Osmeña arrived at 4 p.m last Saturday and stayed for more than an hour.

Supt. Santos said they are expecting an influx of visitors including prominent politicians and businessmen.

Senior Supt. Noli Romana, Cebu City police chief, said they still have to secure any leads in their investigation.

Edward Tan, the King family’s spokesman, said the family is still preoccupied with the wake to cooperate with the investigation.

“Maybe after the interment this Wednesday after we have put everything in place, we will be hands on to the investigation for updates every day,” Tan said.

He said King’s brother asked the regional National Bureau of Investigation Central Visayas (NBI-7) to investigate the murder. “We believe this will help in solving the case and determine who really is behind this,” Tan said.

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