Anti-drug cop Dumlao charged in court for Jee Ick Joo kidnap-slay

State prosecutors have formally added the name of former PNP anti-narcotics operative Supt. Rafael Dumlao to the list of police officers charged before a Pampanga court for the killing and abduction of a Korean businessman in October.

Also included in the information before the Angeles Regional Trial Court Branch 58 is alleged National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) errand boy Jerry Omlang.

Earlier charged for kidnapping with homicide in the Jee case are SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and SPO4 Roy Villegas.

Gerardo Gregorio Santiago, the owner of funeral parlor in Caloocan City where Jee's remains were initially brought, was also charged for being an accessory to the crime while Ramon Yalung was excluded as an accused.

A separate information for kidnapping and serious illegal detention was filed against Dumlao, Sta. Isabel, Omlang, Villegas and some John Does for the abduction of Jee's househelp Marisa Morquicho.

The DOJ also charged Sta. Isabel, Dumlao, Omlang and Villegas with carnapping for taking away Jee's black Ford Explorer where the businessman was eventually killed.

The amended information was filed on Monday, two days ahead of the arraignment set by Judge Irineo Pangilinan Jr. who ordered a reinvestigation into the kidnap-slay following a plea from Sta. Isabel.

Dumlao has been accused by Sta. Isabel of playing a key role in the kidnap-slay.

Sta. Isabel said it was Dumlao who directed him to dispose of Jee's body.

He also claimed that Dumlao ordered him to kill Morquicho, whom the suspects decided to set free.

Dumlao had repeatedly denied Sta. Isabel's accusations and pointed to possible involvement of NBI men in the crime.

Results of the DOJ reinvestigation, however, did not find probable to charge NBI officials Ricardo Diaz, Jose Yap and Roel Bolivar.

"Dumlao's denials have no evidentiary weight and do not deserve our scant consideration," the resolution dated April 6 stated.

The panel leaned on Villegas' affidavit where he confirmed that it was Dumlao who masterminded the kidnapping and killing of Jee, together with Sta. Isabel, an alias Jerry, an alias Pulis and five other male persons.

"He (Villegas) explains that he did not name Dumlao in his previous affidavit only because the latter accompanied him during the taking that statement. Villegas quotes Dumlao telling him, 'tahimik ka lang, akong bahala,'" the resolution stated.

"If it were true that Dumlao had no participation in the planning and execution of the kidnapping, it is indeed puzzling why he would go the extreme lengths of attempting to suborn Villegas to clear him from the latter's previous statements," it added.

As for Omlang, the DOJ said his "express admission" of his knowledge and participation in the crimes of kidnapping for ransom and carnapping "makes him answerable for the said offenses."

"Inconsistent allegations" of the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group and the NBI on Yalung's participation in the crime prompted the prosecutors to drop him from the charge sheet.

"The only evidence that links respondent Yalung in the kidnapping of the victim is the security logbook, which indicates that one of the cars used by the Yalung family in their car rental business, a Toyota Innova with plate number TXS 763, was inside Friendship Plaza Subdivision when the abduction took place," the resolution read.

"However, the said Toyota Innova was not used during the incident as the only vehicles used by respondents were the Nissan Exalta with plate number XCX 281 and a black Hilux pick-up with plate number AAX 4655," it added.

No one among Villegas, Sta. Isabel and Omlang also positively identified Yalung as one of the participants in the kidnapping and killing of Jee, according to the DOJ.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera and Olivia Torrevillas and Assistant State Prosecutor Ethel Rea Suril prepared the resolution, which was approved by Prosecutor General Victor Sepulveda.

Jee was abducted, along with his househelp, from his Angeles City home last October 18, by armed men allegedly pretending to be carrying out an anti-drug operation.

He was strangled to death inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame on the same day he was kidnapped, his cremated remains reportedly flushed down the toilet.

Jee's death had prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend the anti-illegal drugs operations to give time for authorities to rid themselves of scalawags.

The anti-drug war resumed last month. —NB, GMA News