Real-Life 'Crime City'... Former Filipino Police Officer Who Killed Korean Receives Life Sentence and Disappears

Overturning First Trial Verdict in Appeal, Life Sentence
Remains Unrestrained... Whereabouts Unknown After Sentencing
"Embassy Should Have Requested Judicial Cooperation," Criticism Raised

Photo unrelated to the article. Source=Pixabay

A former Philippine police official who kidnapped and murdered a Korean was sentenced to life imprisonment and then disappeared.

On the 9th, Yonhap News reported, "The Philippine police searched residences and other locations to enforce the sentence of Rafael Dumlao, the main perpetrator who kidnapped and murdered a Korean businessman, but his whereabouts are unknown." Dumlao was tried on charges of kidnapping and murdering the late Korean businessman Ji Ik-ju in 2016. He was a former police official who had served as the head of the Police Drug Enforcement Unit.

Ji was kidnapped on October 18, 2016, from his home in Angeles City by Dumlao’s subordinates and taken to the Police Drug Enforcement Unit parking lot, where he was killed. The perpetrators cremated Ji’s body at a crematorium the next day and disposed of the remains in a restroom. The Philippine prosecution indicted five suspects including Dumlao after investigation, and the first trial lasted about six years, but Dumlao was acquitted. However, on June 26, the Manila Court of Appeals overturned the first trial’s verdict and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. The appellate judge unusually acknowledged the first trial judge’s "serious abuse of discretion (a wrongful verdict despite various legal evidence and circumstances)" and reversed the ruling. Police officer Santa Isabel from the Drug Enforcement Unit and NBI informant Jerry Omlang, who were involved in the crime with Dumlao, were sentenced to life imprisonment as in the first trial.

However, the main perpetrator Dumlao evaded arrest and disappeared. Currently, the Philippines generally allows defendants to remain out of custody until sentence enforcement after conviction. Moreover, Dumlao was a powerful figure within the police force who participated in the 'War on Drugs' implemented during former President Duterte’s administration. Although a possible escape was anticipated, it is known that the Philippine judicial authorities and the Korean Embassy did not take special measures. This has led to criticism that Dumlao was effectively allowed to disappear for two weeks from sentencing to enforcement. Some have pointed out that even if the embassy could not intervene directly, it should have requested judicial cooperation to secure his custody.

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