The Manila Times
DISMISSED police LtCol. Rafael Dumlao III, the alleged mastermind in the killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, was arrested on Tuesday, June 9, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said. Remulla said that Dumlao was caught by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region in a house in Pasong Tamo, Quezon City, at about 5 a.m. “He was sleeping. The tactical team entered after forcing the door open and arrested him. It looks like he’s been there for a while. We do not know who owns the house. We have an informant who saw him there. The walls were high. It had a lot of trees,” Remulla said. Authorities subjected Dumlao to surveillance for three weeks, which is why they knew it was his daughter’s wedding last Sunday. “We tracked his movement to confirm if it really was him. It seems he watched the wedding on Facebook Live. He did not attend personally, but there was movement in the house. We confirmed it was him,” Remulla added. Remulla did not identify the informant but said the agency was verifying them for the monetary reward. Dumlao has a P1 million bounty on his head. “We commend the teams for the safe and successful implementation of the warrant. We assure the public that the DILG and the PNP are now on the road to serious reform,” Remulla said. Jee was reportedly abducted by police officers in Angeles City, Pampanga, on Oct. 18, 2016, under the guise of an anti-drug operation. He was strangled to death inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. His remains were cremated at a funeral parlor in Caloocan City, and his ashes were flushed down a toilet. “This was the result of the abuses of Oplan Tokhang. Tokhang gave too much leeway to the PNP operatives to do things at their whim without the process of law,” Remulla said. An Angeles City court acquitted Dumlao in June 2023. However, the Court of Appeals overturned the acquittal in July 2024 for “grave abuse of discretion,” finding him guilty of kidnapping and murder of Jee. Oplan Tokhang is a notorious police operation launched in July 2016 as the flagship component of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. The term “Tokhang” is a portmanteau from the Visayan words “toktok” (to knock) and “hangyo” (to plead).
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