A team from the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group – National Capital Region (PNP CIDG-NCR) has arrested dismissed Police Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Dumlao, the convicted mastermind behind the 2016 kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla announced that Dumlao was captured at around 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday inside a house in Barangay Pasong Tamo, Quezon City.
“It looks like he’s been there for a while. We do not know who owns the house, but we have an informant who saw him there,” Remulla told reporters, noting that an informant's tip helped officials locate the fugitive.
Remulla detailed the PNP's three-week surveillance operation that led to Dumlao's arrest, who was reportedly found asleep when the tactical team breached the hideout.
“We surveilled him for around three weeks. It was the wedding of his daughter last Sunday. We tracked his movement if it really was him. It seemed that he watched the wedding on Facebook Live; he did not attend personally. But there was movement in the house. We confirmed it was him,” the DILG Secretary shared.
Additionally, Remulla asserted that the arrest was executed "according to law" and "did not violate any procedure."
Dumlao was previously acquitted of kidnapping and homicide charges by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60 in June 2023. However, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the decision in July 2024 due to the lower court's "grave abuse of discretion." The Supreme Court subsequently affirmed the guilty conviction in June 2025. He had been in hiding ever since.
Dumlao will serve the CA-mandated sentence of reclusion perpetua (20 to 40 years) without parole, along with a P350,000 payment to the victim's family for damages stemming from the kidnapping and homicide convictions. For serious illegal detention, he faces an additional term of reclusion perpetua and a payment of P225,000 to Ick-joo's heirs. The appellate court also meted out a separate sentence of 30 to 35 years for carnapping.
The 2016 murder of Jee Ick-joo inside the national police headquarters remains one of the most controversial cases linked to former President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war under the "Oplan Tokhang" banner.
Written by Ashraf Indanan
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