THE Supreme Court has upheld the life imprisonment imposed on former police Lt. Col. Rafael Dumlao III, who was tagged as the mastermind in the 2016 kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame.
The ruling by the SC’s Second Division dated June 30, 2025 affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeals, which found Dumlao guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for kidnapping with homicide.
In its ruling, the High Court said Dumlao failed to present evidence showing that the CA’s decision was tainted with grave abuse of discretion.
“The court further resolved to deny the petition for review on certiorari for failure to show any substantial, special or important reason to warrant the exercise of this Court’s discretionary power to review the challenged decision and resolution,” the SC ruling added.
Aside from life imprisonment meted out on Dumlao, the CA decision, which the SC upheld, ordered the dismissed police officer to pay P350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide and another P250,000 for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
Dumlao remains at large, with a P1 million bounty on his head for any information that might lead to his arrest.
The Bureau of Immigration last May said Dumlao is still in the country, with spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval saying his last travel abroad was in 2024 and he returned to Manila after a few days.
“He is in the country. His last travel was in 2024. He left with a court-issued allow departure order, and came back a few days after,” Sandoval said then.
“He has a hold departure order and an Immigration Lookout Bulletin,” she added.
Earlier, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin directed law enforcement authorities to find and arrest Dumlao after meeting with members of the Korean community in the country and officials of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
