JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Monday that two top police officials are being investigated in relation to the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in October 2016, after a suspect in the case submitted evidence allegedly showing their involvement.
Aguirre said a National Bureau of Investigation probe into the case now covers PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group-Pampanga (AIDG) head Supt. Raphael Dumlao and PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group head Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao (no relation) because of evidence submitted by a key suspect, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and his wife.
The NBI, Aguirre added, was looking into Sta. Isabel’s claim that he was a “fall guy” to cover the involvement of higher ranking PNP officials.
Aguirre said Sta. Isabel and his wife Jinky have submitted to the NBI several pieces of evidence supposedly proving that the policeman did not participate in the kidnapping and killing of Jee in October last year and that he was only being used to cover up for the crimes.
“Based on his [Sta. Isabel’s] statement, he was only framed and had nothing to do with the killing of Jee,” Aguirre said.
Among the evidence submitted by Sta. Isabel were a receipt from a bookstore issued at the same time when Jee was kidnapped from his house in Angeles City, Pampanga.
Sta. Isabel insisted that he was at the bookstore in Metro Manila accompanying the child of his superior, Supt. Raphael Dumlao, when the kidnapping took place on Oct. 18, 2016.
Aguirre also said Sta. Isabel’s wife also met with him and claimed that Dumlao and Glenn Dumlao asked her to convince her husband to just follow the “script” on Jee’s case.
Jinky also said the AIDG official told her in a phone conversation that they were planning to tag another policeman in the crime and they would all be spared later on. A recording of the conversation has been submitted to the NBI, Aguirre added.
But Glenn Dumlao denied the allegations against him and scored Sta. Isabel’s wife for telling “outright lies and fabricated statements.”
“I did not go to their house. It’s a big lie. They called me when Sta. Isabel was cornered. The discussion did not take place in the office because media people might see him,” Glenn Dumlao said. He also said he was not related to AIDG chief Raphael Dumlao, who has been restricted to headquarters over the Jee case.
In a press conference, PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa urged the press to stop portraying Sta. Isabel as a hero, and the police investigating him and his cohorts as villains.
Dela Rosa said he visited Sta. Isabel in his detention cell and said he was obviously lying.
“He was all alibi but I know when someone is lying,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said they also have the goods on Sta. Isabel’s immediate superior, AIDG’s Raphael Dumlao.
“He was there when the Korean was killed. We have a witness who testified that he [Dumlao] talked with Sta. Isabel thrice before the Korean was killed, once at the Camp Crame oval, another time at the Training Service and also near the PNP-AIDG headquarters.”
He also scored AIDG’s Dumlao for defending himself before the press when he knows he is not telling the truth.
“He speaks English with a twang when he speaks before media, but he almost cried when I spoke with him.”
The PNP chief said they would consider Mrs. Sta. Isabel’s submissions, but would not take them “hook, line and sinker.”
Aguirre earlier said Jinky showed him photo grabs from a CCTV footage proving that the Toyota Hilux used in the surveillance and actual kidnapping of Jee was not hers.
“She submitted proof supporting her husband’s defense, particularly a CCTV footage showing two identical Hilux units with the same license plate number and color but have a few differences,” he said.
Jinky also submitted to the NBI CCTV footage showing the alleged visits by Dumlao (Raphael) and Senior Supt. Allan Macapagal of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group to their house.
“If this evidence is true, then this was a well-planned operation,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre also raised questions on PNP’s sudden discovery of Jee’s golf clubs from the funeral parlor where he was reportedly cremated.
“According to the NBI, they already searched that funeral parlor and did not find anything there. The following day when the policemen went there, the golf set suddenly appeared,” he said.
Asked if he believes the golf set could have been planted by the policemen who inspected the funeral parlor, the DoJ chief said this possibly has cropped up based on the statement of NBI agents, which was corroborated by workers in the funeral parlor.
He added that Sta. Isabel’s wife and their family would be secured by the NBI due to “very serious threats” against them.
Aguirre also said there was some credibility to Sta. Isabel’s statements, including his claim that he was ordered by his superior to kill Jee’s maid, Marisa Morquicho, who was taken along with him.
“If you think about it, if he [Sta. Isabel] is really the killer, why would he free someone who could identify him and testify against him? That would be stupid,” Aguirre said.
“That’s why we really have to look into this angle that he is just a fall guy,” he added.