RAFAEL Dumlao, former head of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, and three other accused have pleaded not guilty to the abduction of Marisa Dawis Morquicho, the maid of slain South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.
Dumlao and Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Santa Isabel, SPO4 Roy Villegas and Jerry Omlang are facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention and carjacking cases before a trial court in Angeles City.
They are accused of abducting Morquicho who, along with Jee, was abducted from Jee’s house in the Friendship Plaza Subdivision in Pampanga in October 2016. Their vehicle was also taken.
“Arraigned in a language known and understood by them, each accused in the presence and with the assistance of their respective counsels pleaded not guilty of each offense charged,” the court said.
The court set the pre-trial of the case on July 19.
The four defendants are also accused of homicide in Jee’s death together with Gream Funeral Services owner Gerardo Santiago who has been charged as an accessory.
The arraignment for homicide is set on May 31.
Last month, the Justice department approved the indictment of Dumlao and the other accused for the kidnap-slaying of Jee after its prosecutors found probable cause againsThat paved the way for the department’s filing before the Angeles City RTC, Branch 58, criminal cases against Dumlao, Jerry Omlang, a striker or errand boy in the National Bureau of Investigation who surrendered and confessed to his participation in the crime, and Gerardo Santiago, the retired police officer who owns the Gream funeral parlor where Jee’s body was cremated.
Dumlao and Omlang were both named principal accused in the kidnapping for ransom with homicide, while Santiago has been charged as an accessory.
Omlang and Santiago both surrendered to the NBI and tagged Dumlao as the mastermind in Jee’s kidnapping.
The prosecutors concluded after several hearings that Dumlao had a direct knowledge of Jee’s kidnapping and conspired with Santa Isabel, Villegas and Omlang.
“As one of the planners of the kidnapping, Dumlao was, at the very least, a principal by inducement who was a conspirator with Santa Isabel and the others,” the prosecutors said in a resolution.
“Dumlao’s denials have no evidentiary weight and do not deserve our scant consideration.”
The department has already indicted Senior Police Officer 2 Ricky Santa Isabel, Senior Police Officer 4 Roy Villegas and Ramon Yalung in the case earlier. They are accused of kidnapping for ransom with homicide before the RTC, which included unidentified people with the aliases “Dumlao,” “Ding” and “Pulis.”