Rafael Dumlao III and Jee Ick-joo. FILE PHOTO
The Court of Appeals (CA) has reversed the decision of an Angeles City court to acquit the mastermind of the gruesome murder of a Korean businessman in the early days of the Duterte administration鈥檚 drug war in 2016 after finding that the trial was a 鈥渟ham鈥� and an 鈥渁pparent mockery鈥� of the justice system, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
The Supreme Court said that dismissed Police Supt. Rafael Dumlao III was found guilty by the CA as a co-conspirator in the kidnapping and killing of Jee Ick-joo, who was strangled to death, cremated and his ashes flushed down a toilet.
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The CA鈥檚 June 26 ruling on a petition by state prosecutors to overturn his acquittal came a little more than a year after Dumlao was exonerated by Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60 on June 6, 2023.
The CA sentenced him to reclusion perpetua, or 20 to 40 years in prison, without parole, and was ordered to pay Jee鈥檚 family P350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide.
For kidnapping and serious illegal detention, he received another reclusion perpetua and ordered to pay Jee鈥檚 heirs P225,000 in damages, plus imprisonment for 30 to 35 years for carjacking.
鈥淭he Court of Appeals ruled that the proceedings before the RTC were a sham and an apparent mockery of the judicial process such that Dumlao鈥檚 acquittal was a foregone conclusion and in total disregard of the evidence,鈥� the high court said in a statement.
鈥淭he Court of Appeals held that the RTC reached a conclusion that clearly contradicted the testimonies of witnesses, rendering the prosecution鈥檚 presentation of evidence inutile and blatantly abusing its discretion to a point so grave as to deprive it of its very power to dispense justice,鈥� it said.
No double jeopardy
The high court said that an acquittal is usually final to avoid double jeopardy, but there is an exception to this general rule in cases of 鈥済rave abuse of discretion,鈥� which the CA found in the Dumlao trial.
鈥淭his is strictly limited to instances where there is a violation of the prosecution鈥檚 right to due process, such as being denied the opportunity to present evidence, when the trial is a sham, or when there is a mistrial that renders the judgment of acquittal void,鈥� it said.
The appellate court found that the RTC abused its discretion by its 鈥済ross misapprehension of the facts鈥� in acquitting the ex-narc.
The CA did not alter the RTC鈥檚 decision and sentence on Dumlao鈥檚 coaccused, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and Jerry Omlang, a former errand boy for the National Bureau of Investigation.
The two men, who had identified Dumlao as the mastermind, were also convicted of abducting Marissa Marquicho, Jee鈥檚 house helper, and carjacking the Korean businessman鈥檚 vehicle.
Sta. Isabel and Omlang were sentenced by the Angeles RTC to two counts of reclusion perpetua without parole for kidnapping with homicide and kidnapping with serious illegal detention, and another 20 to 25 years for carjacking.
Another accused in the case, SPO4 Roy Villegas, became a state witness.
On Oct. 8, 2016, Jee was kidnapped by police officers led by Sta. Isabel at his residence in Friendship Subdivision in Angeles, under the guise of an antidrug operation.
According to Villegas who testified against Sta. Isabel, Jee鈥檚 body was cremated in Caloocan City, and the ashes were flushed down a toilet.
The CA said the cremation was done in a funeral parlor owned by Gerardo Santiago, who was charged as an accomplice. Santiago died in 2020.Dumlao was then head of a special investigation unit of the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, which was disbanded after Jee鈥檚 killing was exposed.
Strangled at Crame
A Department of Justice inquiry found that Jee was strangled inside his own car as it was parked in Camp Crame, Philippine National Police headquarters, hours after he was kidnapped.
Jee was reportedly a victim of the 鈥渢okhang for ransom scheme鈥� where rogue police officers arrest individuals on drug-related charges and later extort money from them or their families in exchange for freedom.
Then President Rodrigo Duterte temporarily suspended his war on drugs after learning that it was being used as a cover for other crimes.
In February 2017, then PNP chief now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said a 鈥淜orean mafia鈥� preying on rich Koreans in the Philippines might have been involved in Jee鈥檚 murder.
But the chief of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group, Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao, said two weeks later that their investigation supposedly showed that a Filipino crime syndicate, not the Korean mafia, killed Jee because he defied its attempts at extortion and encouraged other Korean and Chinese businessmen in the country to do the same.
It was revealed during the trial that Jee鈥檚 wife allegedly made a partial payment of P5 million of a total P8 million ransom demanded by his abductors. The trial court found no direct evidence linking any of the accused to the ransom demand.
Kidnapping for ransom and homicide charges for the abduction and killing of Jee were later brought against Dumlao, Sta. Isabel, Omlang and Villegas, who was later removed as a respondent for testifying against the others.In 2018, Dumlao was found guilty by the PNP for the administrative offense of grave misconduct for his involvement in the killing of Jee, resulting in his dismissal.
In 2019, Dumlao was allowed by the Angeles RTC to post bail after prosecutors supposedly failed to prove that the evidence of his guilt was strong. The court also reasoned that Dumlao鈥檚 actions, as relayed by witnesses, could not be considered an act of conspiring to kill the victim.
The PNP spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Inquirer鈥檚 request for comment. 鈥擶ITH REPORTS FROM NESTOR CORRALES AND INQUIRER RESEARCH聽