MANILA, Philippines — Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has ordered law enforcement agents to step up their manhunt for former police officer Rafael Dumlao III who was earlier convicted for the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in 2016.
The Palace executive who concurrently chairs the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, issued the directive last May 21.
The order came following the PAOCC’s meeting with officials from the Korean Embassy in Manila recently.
The PAOCC offered a P1 million reward for Dumlao’s arrest.
In an interview with DZBB, Bersamin said it is “embarrassing” that Dumlao remains a free man after the Court of Appeals (CA) reaffirmed the guilty verdict against him.
Even more appalling was how the crime against Jee was committed right within the walls of the Philippine National Police’s headquarters in Camp Crame, Bersamin said.
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 former policeman was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and to pay P350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide and another P225,000 for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
