MANILA, Philippines – A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in South Korea condemned the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo, a crime that has raised questions about abuses committed in the name of the government’s war on drugs. (READ: ‘Murder inside Camp Crame: A tangled tale of crime‘)

The Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa (KASAMMAKO) in South Korea conveyed its sympathy to Jee’s family and extended solidarity with South Koreans mourning his death.

“We will keep awake until justice is mete out for Jee and for all victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines,” the group said in a statement.

KASAMMAKO said the crime puts Filipinos in South Korea even more vulnerable, potentially “heightening incidences of antagonism and violence” towards Filipinos in South Korea, especially in the case of undocumented migrant workers or biracial children.

“The violence not only cycles, but may multiply. It fans the cycle of violence affecting the vulnerable Filipino citizens,” the group added. 

KASAMMAKO also condemned the government’s war on drugs, saying that it has become a “justification for human rights violations against suspected drug addicts and pushers by government security forces.”

“The war is waged not to address the root causes of the drug menace. We have yet to see big fishes like drug traders and narco-politicians handcuffed and jailed… It shamelessly covers police adventurism that instigates police brutality, extortion and kidnapping for ransom among others,” they said.

The group called for President Rodrigo Duterte and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to immediately investigate Jee’s murder and to end the “bloodbath of innocent lives” in the government’s drug war. 

“Change that rolls down social justice has not come and certainly will not emanate from his administration’s war on drugs,” they said. 

The South Korean businessman was killed inside the police headquarters, Camp Crame, hours after he was abducted from his home in Angeles City. This fueled suspicions of human rights groups the police is using the Duterte administration’s controversial drug war as a smokescreen for other crimes like kidnap-for-ransom. – Rappler.com