SC files admin raps vs retired CA justice over links to lawyer’s slay
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BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The Supreme Court has charged retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Isaias Dicdican with gross misconduct for his alleged involvement in the murder of Cebu lawyer Joey Luis Wee in 2020.
Wee was shot and killed by two assailants as he was walking from his car to his office in Cebu City on Nov. 23, 2020.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting said the high court acted on a memorandum dated March 24 from Court Administrator Raul Villanueva, which implicated Dicdican in the case.
The former associate justice, who retired in 2015, was ordered to answer the administrative complaint within 10 days upon receiving notice.
Ting said that if found guilty in the administrative proceedings, Dicdican could be disbarred and denied a pension.
READ: NBI files murder complaint vs. doctor for killing of retired CA justice
Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon confirmed to the Inquirer that a separate criminal complaint against Dicdican was endorsed by the National Bureau of Investigation and is currently undergoing preliminary investigation.
Confession
One of the suspects in the case, Edwin Layese, a former director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Western Visayas, made an extrajudicial confession in 2023 detailing Dicdican’s alleged involvement.
“The person who ordered me to canvas and look for a hit man was retired Court of Appeals Justice Isaias Dicdican and the one who financed the killing was a certain ‘Miss Riza/Risa’ who was an adverse party litigant in a case that Attorney Wee handled,” Layese said in his affidavit.
Layese, who is facing murder charges before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court following his arrest by the NBI on Jan. 13, 2021, said he was able to contact three persons: Randy Palparan (also known as Jake Agustin), John Raymond Suarez and Fausto Peralta.
He said he did not have details of the plan to kill Wee since it was handled by Palparan.
The original contract price offered by Dicdican and Riza for the hit was P1 million.
Layese said he delivered a P500,000 downpayment to Palparan on Nov. 16, 2020, and the balance six days later.
However, Palparan allegedly asked for an additional P500,000 since Wee was a “hard target, being a lawyer.”
Layese said he relayed Palparan’s demand to Dicdican, who then informed Riza about it.
“On Nov. 22, 2020, I received the additional P500,000 cash from Justice Dicdican at his residence,” he said.
Close ties
Layese said he then gave the additional payment to Palparan.
In a supplemental extrajudicial confession made in January 2024, Layese elaborated on his close ties with the retired justice, including the time when he asked Dicdican why he and Riza wanted Wee dead.
“This is what Justice Dicdican told me: Miss Riza holds a grudge against Attorney Wee over a case. Miss Riza lost in a case and is liable to pay a huge amount of money in favor of Attorney Wee’s clients and they want it to be reduced but failed during negotiations,” he said.
“Miss Riza (also claimed she) was always bullied by Attorney Wee in and out of the court, using inappropriate language and Miss Riza was very mad at Attorney Wee,” Layese added.
He said he had known Dicdican since 2013, when the retired associate justice had a girlfriend who is the sister of Layese’s girlfriend.
“I looked up to him (Dicdican) as a father and mentor. I respect him a lot. Since then, we became close friends,” Layese said.
In his January 2024 affidavit, Layese said Dicdican instructed him that if someone asked about the mastermind of the killing, he should point to another lawyer who once had a fistfight with Wee outside the Cebu City courthouse.
Plea bargain
According to the document, Layese also wished to apply as a state witness or enter into a plea bargain, saying he was “not the most guilty” in the case since his role was only to find a gunman-for-hire.
He also claimed that he asked the gunman to spare Wee’s wife, Marilevo, since part of the original plan was to also kill her.
“I explained to Justice Dicdican that I told Palparan to spare the wife since they have children,” Layese said.
He also alleged that Wee’s case was not the first time he acted as Dicdican’s “canvasser.”
Layese cited the killing of another lawyer from Lapu-Lapu City, James Joseph Gupana, on Oct. 20, 2020, or just over a month before the attack on Wee.
In the Gupana case, Layese said the retired justice asked him in July 2020 to look for a hit man. He later introduced Dicdican to Palparan, who agreed to kill Gupana in an ambush.
