Bersamin orders manhunt for Dumlao

MANILA, Philippines — Law enforcement units have intensified efforts to arrest former police lieutenant colonel Rafael Dumlao III, who was tagged as mastermind in the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo in 2016.

The manhunt came after Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin issued on Wednesday a directive for law enforcers to locate and arrest Dumlao. Bersamin also chairs the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz said Jee’s case was tackled during an inter-agency coordination meeting on the safety of Koreans at Camp Crame on Thursday.

Cruz said the failure of authorities to arrest Dumlao was among issues raised by South Korean embassy officials during the meeting.

He added that the Koreans asked why Dumlao remains free even after the Court of Appeals (CA) found him guilty in the kidnapping and killing of Jee.

Dumlao was released from the PNP Custodial Center in Quezon City after a Regional Trial Court in Pampanga acquitted him in 2019 – a decision the CA reversed in June 2024.

The CA sentenced Dumlao to a life term without parole and ordered him to pay P350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide and P225,000 for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

Dumlao was also sentenced to another 35 years for car theft.

The CA said the judge who tried the case gravely abused her discretion by “gross misapprehension” of the facts when she acquitted Dumlao.

Cruz said Korean embassy officials and representatives from their community want the PNP to look into similar cold-cases of crimes on their compatriots.

He added that a cash reward was raised for information that would lead to Dumlao’s arrest.