Cop charged with murder of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo granted bail

Jee Ick Joo
Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Dumlao, left, and Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.

A police officer charged with the kidnap and murder of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in 2016 has been granted bail.

Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Dumlao was granted bail by Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 56 it has been announced today (Tuesday, May 7).

In a resolution sent to the Department of Justice, Judge Irin Zenaida Buan granted the petition for bail of Dumlao whom she ordered to post a bail bond of 300,000 pesos for each charge, making a total of 900,000 pesos.

According to the Manila Bulletin, Dumlao is facing kidnapping for ransom with homicide, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, as well as car-napping.

“After considering the evidence of the prosecution, the Court holds that its evidence failed to prove that the evidence of guilt of accused P/Supt. Rafael Dumlao III is strong,” read the court’s ruling dated April 24.

“Sitting through the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, the Court holds that none of them proved a particular act or acts of the accused Dumlao that clearly established his complicity in the abduction and killing of the victim Ick Joo Jee.”

Mr Jee was abducted along with his maid Marisa Morquicho on October 18, 2016, from his home in Friendship Plaza Subdivision, Angeles City. The police used the pretext of conducting a drug raid.

The Korean was taken to police national headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, where he was killed the same day. Morquicho was later released.

After the murder, the suspects allegedly continued to contact Mr Jee’s wife and demanded ransom for his release.

After a series of negotiations, Mrs Jee handed over five million pesos. Later, the suspects demanded an additional four million pesos but Mrs Jee refused unless they could show proof of life. When they failed to do so, she reported that her husband was missing.

It later came to light that the businessman was strangled to death with a bike lock just yards from the office of then national police chief Ronald de la Rosa. The suspects then had him cremated and flushed his ashes down a toilet. 

The case continues.

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