AN ERRAND boy of the National Bureau of Investigation now in custody has tagged police Supt. Rafael Dumlao as the mastermind behind the abduction and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.
Jerry Omlang, alias Jerry, who was charged before the Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 58, also admitted his participation in the crime.
“Colonel Dumlao,” Omlang said when asked who was the mastermind of the group, referring to the leader of the now disbanded Anti-Illegal Drugs Group in Pampanga.
Omlang said he received threats from Dumlao, prompting him to seek protective custody from the NBI.
Omlang admitted that he was the man seen in a closed circuit television footage with SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, the main suspect in the case, when the latter withdrew money from an automated teller machine in Greenhills, San Juan City.
Omlang told investigators in the NBI that he took part in the surveillance operations and in the abduction of Jee and his house maid, Marisa Morquicho, from the businessman’s Angeles City home on Oct. 18, 2016.
Omlang said Sta. Isabel, whom he described as a friend, had recruited him to the group.
“I did the surveillance first. About two weeks. In the first week of October,” Omlang said.
Dumlao has also been accused by Sta. Isabel of playing a key role in the kidnap-slay.
Sta. Isabel said it was Dumlao who told him to dispose of Jee’s body after he was strangled in police headquarters at Camp Crame, on the same day the businessman was taken by armed men on drug allegations.
Sta. Isabel said Dumlao ordered him to kill Morquicho, but they set her free instead.
Dumlao has repeatedly denied Sta. Isabel’s accusations.
NBI Director Dante Gierran denied claims that Omlang was an asset of the NBI and a driver of one of its officials.
“He is not an agent. Whoever said he is an NBI agent, it’s just a figment of his imagination, the one who said this is crazy,” Gierran said.
“If there are NBI agents involved, I will kill them. There are no NBI agents involved in the case,” Gierran said.
Investigating agent Darwin Camilo Lising said Omlang has been an errand boy at the NBI since 2005.
Lising said he met Omlang when he was assigned to the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division in 2007.
“He is not an employee of the bureau. He is a volunteer. One who makes coffee and ordered to buy food. He comes and goes as he pleases. No definite time,” Lising said.
Gierran insisted that nobody from the NBI was involved in the kidnap-slay of Jee.
Gierran made the remark after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to relieve him of his duties if he failed to produce the NBI “assets” that were involved in the Jee case.
“There’s no one here [involved in the kidnap-slay],” Gierran said.
Gierran said Omlang’s surrender was timely, as loose ends in Jee’s case are now being tied up.
Gierran said five people were involved in Jee’s kidnapping and named Sta. Isabel, Omlang, and Supt. Rafael Dumlao, as among those involved.
Duterte last Sunday gave Dumlao 24 hours to surrender and offered a P5-million bounty on him if he doesn’t, not knowing that he was already back in Camp Crame.
Gierran said Omlang’s statements contradict the testimony of Sta. Isabel, who claimed that he was in a Taguig court when the kidnapping happened.
Sta. Isabel has repeatedly denied allegations that he was the mastermind behind the kidnapping and killing of Jee and accused Dumlao instead.
Police officers reportedly abducted Jee from his Pampanga home in October. Despite a ransom demand, Jee was killed and cremated, his ashes flushed down a toilet.
The abduction was committed under the guise of an anti-illegal drugs operation.
Duterte at a news conference in Malacañang said the NBI should produce the two NBI assets allegedly involved in the crime or else Gierran would be relieved.
“I will not resign. I have done nothing wrong,” Gierran said.
Omlang was first described as a supposed civilian asset of the NBI hired by the suspects to carry out the crime.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III said Omlang told him that Jee was still alive when the ATM withdrawal was made.
Aguirre said a Pampanga regional trial court has ordered the reinvestigation on Jee’s kidnapping and murder, a move that would help them identify others involved in the case that are now only identified through their aliases.
He also ordered the NBI to conduct an inventory of all its confidential agents, informants and errand boys to make sure they are not involved in illegal activities.