Why court acquitted the ‘brains’ behind Korean businessman’s slay

Slain Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines–The testimony of a government witness against the supposed brains behind the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo is “overreaching, inconsistent, self-destruction,” Angeles City Regional Trial Court declared.

As a result, only Police Chief Master Sergeant Ricky Sta. Isabel and Jerry Omlang were found guilty of a special complex crime of kidnapping with homicide.

The two accused were meted with the penalty reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years of imprisonment without eligibility for parole.

However, former lieutenant colonel Rafael Dumlao III, who was previously identified by Sta. Isabel and Omlang as the mastermind, was acquitted.

The prosecutor had relied on the testimonies of Corporal Christopher Baldovino and Master Sergeant Roy Villegas in pinning down Dumlao.

They had said Dumlao was the one who sanctioned the operation against Jee by Sta. Isabel and his team in the defunct Philippine National Police – Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG).

Baldovino was one of the police officers who conducted surveillance operations on Jee.

He said it was Dumlao who called him and told him to join the team’s operation.

The court noted Baldovino’s admission that he made some false claims in his testimonies.

“He admitted that he lied. Every time he was confronted with inconsistencies in his testimony in RTC branch 56 (the previous court handling the case) when he testified for the petition for bail and his affidavits, he would reason that he lied because he was afraid,” the court said in its 192-page ruling.

“Thus, after admitting under oath that he lied, his credibility as a witness is highly suspect,” the court observed.

As for Villegas, the court noted he issued five affidavits, plus his interview before the Senate and his testimony during the bail hearing.

“He has changed his testimony, aimed specifically to point to Dumlao as the mastermind,” the court noted.

In one of his testimonies, Villegas said he knew that Jee was the subject of their surveillance operation, but in another testimony, he said he is now aware (of) who was the subject of their surveillance as he was only shown a document, purportedly a warrant that he “merely glanced” at and “did not read,” said the decision.

But in another testimony, Villegas said he was surprised when Dumlao asked him who were the members of this supposed team conducting the operation.

He had responded in the affirmative when he was asked if it was only his assumption that the operation against Jee was sanctioned by Dumlao.

He also upheld his statement about personally hearing Sta. Isabel saying he was the one calling the shots, not Dumlao.

“This resulted in the inconsistencies in his testimony in the main case from his testimony in the petition for bail and his declarations in the five affidavits that he executed. Such made his testimony, as to Dumlao, suspect,” the court said.

The court saw that “there seems to be no community of design between Dumlao and Sta. Isabel.”

“As regards the accused, Police Superintendent Rafael Dumlao III, the court finds that the prosecution failed to prove that he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of kidnapping for ransom with homicide and is hereby acquitted,” the court declared.

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