Aguirre: No arrests yet for Dumlao, et al

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. (Photo: ALBERT ALCAIN/Presidential Photo)

MANILA, Philippines—Department on Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Sunday said that the policemen involved in the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo can’t be arrested yet.

According to Aguirre, changes has to be made in the arrest warrants issued by the Angeles City regional trial court against Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and others before any arrest can be made.

Aguirre said that the arrest warrants only indicated “Sir Dumlao”, “Pulis”, “Jerry”, and “Ding” as subjects.

He added that full names of the subjects must be specified in the arrest warrant in order for it to be served.

“There should first be a clarification from the court and amendment of the arrest warrant that will change the name ‘Sir Dumlao’ to ‘Supt. Rafael Dumlao’ before he could be put under arrest,” Aguirre said.

According to the Justice Secretary, the subjects of the arrest warrant aliased as “Ding”, “Jerry”, and “Pulis” were Gerardo Santiago, a retired police officer and owner of Gream Funeral Parlor where Jee was cremated; a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confidential agent who allegedly removed Jee from his Pampanga home; and a police officer whom the investigators are still identifying, respectively.

“This Jerry is a confidential informant of the NBI and he has a lot of things to tell on this case,” Aguirre said.

Dumlao and Santiago have turned themselves in to the Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier. However, Dumlao left PNP’s custody after testifying in a Senate hearing on Jee’s death on Thursday.

The petitioner, PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), has asked an Angeles court to amend the arrest warrant. Once the amended warrant has been issued, the PNP can take into its custody the policemen implicated in Jee’s death.