MANILA – The country’s law enforcement units have been directed to expedite the arrest of former police lieutenant colonel Rafael Dumlao III, who is implicated in the 2016 kidnapping of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo. Jee was later found dead within the premises of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

The intensified manhunt for Dumlao was ordered by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the concurrent chairman of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), on May 21, 2025.

Jee was abducted from his residence in Angeles City, along with his house helper, on October 18, 2016, by armed men allegedly posing as agents conducting an anti-drug operation.

He was reportedly strangled to death on the same day inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. His remains were taken to a funeral parlor in Caloocan City, cremated, and the ashes were flushed down a toilet.

Jee’s wife, Choi Gyung Jin, stated that eight armed men were involved in the kidnapping. She added that the group also took personal property, including jewelry and passports.

The kidnappers demanded a ransom of ₱8 million. Choi reportedly paid ₱5 million on October 30, 2016, but withheld the remaining ₱3 million when the kidnappers failed to provide proof that Jee was still alive.

Then PNP chief, now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, suggested that a “Korean mafia” targeting wealthy Koreans in the Philippines might have been involved in Jee’s murder.

However, the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group revealed that its investigation indicated a Filipino crime syndicate, not a Korean mafia, was responsible for Jee’s death due to his refusal to pay extortion money.

Dumlao, who was then head of a special investigation unit of the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG), was identified as a co-conspirator in the crime. He was arrested in 2017 and detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

In 2019, a Regional Trial Court in Pampanga acquitted Dumlao in the case, leading to his release from the PNP Custodial Center in Quezon City.

However, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the Pampanga RTC’s decision in June 2024, stating that the RTC judge who tried the case gravely abused her discretion by a “gross misapprehension” of the facts when she acquitted Dumlao.

The CA sentenced Dumlao to a life term without parole and ordered him to pay ₱350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide and ₱225,000 for kidnapping and serious illegal detention. He was also sentenced to another 35 years for car theft. Dumlao remains at large.

Bersamin was quoted as saying, “Kahiya-hiya na hanggang ngayon ay at large itong si Dumlao na itinuturing na nasa likod ng pagdukot at pagpatay sa isang dayuhan at binaligtad ng korte ang pagpapawalang sala sa kaniya. At mas kahiya-hiya na ang pagpatay kay Jee Ick Joo ay nangyari sa loob pa mismo ng Kampo Crame.”

According to PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz, Jee’s case was discussed among other issues raised by South Korean embassy officials during an inter-agency coordination and international cooperation meeting on the safety of Koreans held at Camp Crame on May 22.

He said the Koreans asked during the meeting why Dumlao remains free despite the Court of Appeals’ (CA) finding him guilty in the kidnapping and killing of Jee.

Cruz added that Korean embassy officials and representatives from their community want the PNP to look into similar cases of crimes victimizing their citizens.

On May 17, two Koreans were robbed of about ₱200,000 at gunpoint at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City by four men on two motorcycles.

The South Korean embassy has released an advisory to its citizens in the Philippines, listing precautionary measures that should be observed amid what it described as a “deteriorating crime situation, armed robberies, deaths, abductions, and other serious crimes against Korean nationals.”

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