A POLICE officer tagged in the kidnap-slaying of Korean trader Jee Ick Joo was brought back to police headquarters in Camp Crame on Saturday, hours after he left without permission.
Supt. Raphael Dumlao, the head of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group in Pampanga, was brought back by police escorts and is again under restrictive custody, said Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao (no relation), chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG).
“He is being secured by the quick response team of Camp Crame because he is in restrictive custody. He’s not in his home, Raphael Dumlao is already inside Camp Crame,” the AKG chief said.
Dumlao left the camp Friday evening for his home in Antipolo City to attend to his ailing wife. Pursuing policemen tried to arrest him on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by an Angeles City court after he was identified by another principal suspect in the case, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel.
But AIDG chief, who is also a lawyer, disputed the validity of the arrest warrant because it was under the name of a certain “Sir Dumlao.”
Senior Supt. Benjamin Acorda said Raphael Dumlao took a cab outside Camp Crame with his wife and a police escort.
On Saturday afternoon, Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa ordered a manhunt, not knowing that Dumlao was already back in Camp Crame early Saturday.
Glenn Dumlao said they have already requested the Pampanga court through the Justice department to amend the arrest warrant so that it will bear the name of Supt. Raphael Dumlao.
Dumlao was implicated by Sta. Isabel in the kidnapping but he has denied the accusation.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Sunday confirmed that Raphael Dumlao could not be arrested using the warrant issued by the Angeles City court, which did not use his full name.
The same, he said, could be said of those listed only by their aliases, such as “Pulis,” “Jerry” and “Ding.”
Aguirre earlier identified “Ding” as Gerardo Santiago, the retired police officer who owns the Gream funeral parlor where Joo’s body was cremated, while the alias “Jerry” is a National Bureau of Investigation asset who was allegedly among those who forcibly took the Korean from his home in a supposed anti-narcotics operation.
“This Jerry is a confidential informant of the NBI and he has a lot of things to tell on this case,”Aguirre said.
Both suspects have already surrendered to the NBI. Santiago immediately surrendered to the authorities upon his arrival from Canada.
Aguirre said investigators are still determining the identity of alias “Pulis”, but assumed that the person is also a police officer.
Aguirre said the AKG, which filed the complaint against Sta. Isabel, has already asked the Justice department to amend the aliases in the case filed in the RTC for the issuance of arrest warrant against Dumlao and the two other identified accused.
The amended arrest warrants must be issued before Dumlao can again be taken into its custody.
Aguirre said the immigration lookout bulletin order issued by his office against the accused in the kidnap-slay case would be amended accordingly.
The AKG has tagged Sta. Isabel as the kidnapper and killer of Joo based on statements of fellow accused Senior Police Officer 4 Roy Villegas and Ramon Yalung.
However, Sta. Isabel, who served under Dumlao’s unit, denied the allegation and claimed that he was just a fall guy in the “script” prepared by his superiors to get away with the crime.
His camp has submitted evidence to the NBI showing the alleged involvement of Dumlao and Senior Supt. Allan Macapagal of AKG in the kidnapping of Joo.
Sta. Isabel also filed with the court an urgent motion seeking reinvestigation of the case in the DOJ due to his failure to answer the charges in preliminary investigation and also asking for his return to NBI
In his affidavit submitted to the NBI, he admitted in that he took part in dispatching the victim’s body but denied kidnapping and killing Jee.
Sta. Isabel’s wife Jinky said she feared for their safety after her husband tagged his superiors in the case.
Aguirre said the Justice department would consider extending protection to Sta. Isabel’s family
