Anti-kidnap chief denies plotting Korean slay cover-up

MANILA, Philippines – Feeling offended, Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao yesterday denied involvement in any plot to kill three Angeles City policemen and another civilian to cover up the kidnap-slay of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

Dumlao, Philippine National Police anti-kidnapping group (AKG) director, said he is neither aware of the scenario nor was it discussed in a meeting at Camp Crame on Jan. 14.

“She is peddling lies,” Dumlao said in a phone interview, referring to the statement of Jinky Sta. Isabel, wife of Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel who is among those facing charges for the death of the Korean.

Malacañang assured the public yesterday that there will be no cover-up in the investigation on Jee’s kidnapping and killing.

“We are outraged by the abduction and slay of a South Korean executive inside Camp Crame,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement issued three days after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) revealed that Jee was killed inside the PNP headquarters.

“We assure everyone that there will be no whitewash or cover-up,” he added, stressing that the Duterte administration would not condone any wrongdoing by policemen who “betray” the PNP.

“We will not tolerate corrupt, abusive, errant policemen who betray the organization and the men and women in uniform who continue their faithful, dedicated and loyal service to the country,” Abella said.

In a phone interview yesterday, Dumlao recalled that he met with Jinky, her lawyer, Supt. Rafael Dumlao of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) and other police officers in a gym at Camp Crame to ask questions.

“What I wanted at the meeting was for Sta. Isabel to tell the truth. Where is the victim? If he is already dead, then where is the body?” Glenn Dumlao said. “All he has to do is cooperate and tell us the location of the victim’s body.”

“We never talked about setting up some policemen from Angeles,” Dumlao stressed.

The AKG director, who clarified that he is not related to AIDG’s Dumlao, added that he wanted to know from Sta. Isabel himself where Jee’s Ford Explorer was brought and the names of the other people involved in the crime.

Rafael Dumlao has been placed on “freezer” status under the custody of the PNP Headquarters Support Service.

Glenn Dumlao added that he felt offended when Jinky and her lawyer demanded that he go to the media and clear Ricky from any involvement in the case.

He stressed that there is no reason for him to do so since a case was already filed against Ricky and several other people.

In his affidavit obtained by The STAR from an NBI insider, SPO3 Sta. Isabel implicated Supt. Dumlao of the AIDG and Senior Supt. Allan Macapagal of the anti-kidnapping group (AKG).

It was Rafael, he said, who masterminded the kidnapping and killing of the Korean.

He admitted to taking part in dispatching Jee’s body but denied killing the businessman himself, a claim that runs counter to the statement of co-accused SPO4 Roy Villegas who also confessed to the crime but alleged that it was Sta. Isabel who strangled the Korean to death.

Ricky earlier surrendered to the NBI and was transferred to PNP custody Friday after the Angeles City Regional Trial Court branch 58 issued warrants of arrest against him and six other suspects.

He claimed that Rafael Dumlao, who was their superior and in charge of the PNP’s anti-drug initiatives in Pampanga, asked him on Oct. 18 last year to join the “operation” on Jee but he declined.

Later in the day, the AIDG’s Dumlao allegedly summoned him to Camp Crame where he saw Jee and helper Marisa Morquicho. It was then that Rafael allegedly ordered him to kill Morquicho as other policemen would “take charge” of the Korean.

“Bring this woman, throw her away, kill her. Take charge of her and we’ll take charge of the other one,” Sta. Isabel’s affidavit read.

Out of pity, he did not kill Morquicho and instead freed her along Balete Drive in Quezon City. He also told her not to go home as yet because he would still have to make it appear that he dumped her body.

Sta. Isabel added that when he returned to Camp Crame, he saw Jee already dead inside a car parked just outside the PNP-AIDG building.

It was allegedly then that Rafael instructed him to help the other men in disposing of Jee’s body.

He said Rafael gave him P30,000 to have the body cremated at Gream Funeral Services, located in Bagbaguin, Caloocan and owned by former policeman and barangay chairman Gerardo ‘Ding’ Santiago who reportedly flew to Canada to escape prosecution. Intelligence units have also reported that Santiago has crossed borders and is now in New Jersey in the US.

After cremation, Jee’s ashes were supposedly flushed in the toilet.

Rafael has denied the allegations. He claimed there were witnesses that pointed to Sta. Isabel as the killer, adding that, “contrary to the evidence at hand and the witnesses’ account, everybody is pointing at him.”

But SPO3 Sta. Isabel said he has evidence to prove his statements. His lawyers have asked that he be placed under the witness protection program of the Department of Justice.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II confirmed that Sta. Isabel has submitted his affidavit to his office, but that he has “not decided yet on his eligibility for WPP.” – with Alexis Romero, Edu Punay, Ding Cervantes, Cecille Suerte Felipe