2020 CEBU CITY KILLING: SC files admin raps against ex-CA Justice over lawyer's death

Local

THE Supreme Court has filed an administrative case for gross misconduct against retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Isaias Dicdican over his alleged involvement in the 2020 killing of Cebu-based lawyer Joey Luis Wee.

The High Court approved the charges during its April 22 session, based on a memorandum issued by Court Administrator Raul Villanueva on March 24, 2025.

SC spokesperson Camille Ting said the case had been endorsed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to the Cebu City Prosecution Office and the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Dicdican has been directed to submit his response within a non-extendible period of 10 days upon receipt of the notice.

Wee, 51, was shot and killed on November 23, 2020, while opening the gate of his law office in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City.

He died on the spot, and the assailants fled the scene on motorcycles.

In 2023, one of the suspects, Edwin F. Layese, executed an extrajudicial confession identifying Dicdican and a certain “Miss Riza” as the alleged masterminds.

Layese, a former regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, claimed he acted as a middleman and received two payments from Dicdican, P1 million on November 16, 2020, and another P500,000 on November 22, 2020, at the retired justice’s residence in Guadalupe Heights Village, Cebu City.

According to Layese’s affidavit, the murder stemmed from a grudge held by Riza, who had lost a case handled by Wee and was ordered to pay a significant amount to his clients.

Riza reportedly told Layese that she had been bullied by Wee in and out of court.

Layese said he learned about the shooting from a news report on the same day.

He claimed that Dicdican later contacted him to confirm the killing and allegedly inquired why Wee’s wife, Marilevi Lim Wee, had not been harmed.

Layese said he had instructed the gunman to spare her for the sake of the children.

The NBI arrested the suspected gunman, Fausto Edgar Benigno Peralta, a former Philippine Army sergeant, on December 8, 2020, in Cabuyao, Laguna.

Peralta’s statements led to Layese’s arrest in 2021.

Layese, through his lawyer, submitted his sworn affidavit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2024.

DOJ proceedings are ongoing, with NBI agents having testified before the investigating panel. A resolution is still pending.

Ting said that if Dicdican is found guilty of gross misconduct, he faces disbarment and the forfeiture of his retirement benefits.(MyTVCebu)