Although in recent years, the majority of kidnapping cases in the Philippines have been related to Chinese expatriates, and the number of horrifying kidnapping cases has been increasing, the most infamous kidnapping case in the country actually involved a Korean businessman.
On October 18, 2016, during lunch break, several people broke into the home of 53-year-old Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, tied him up, then pushed him into his black Ford Explorer SUV, and drove away.
About two weeks later, Jee Ick-joo's wife began receiving text messages from the kidnappers, demanding 5 million Philippine pesos (about 100,000 US dollars) as ransom for his release. One of the messages read, "Do not contact the police or anyone else, as we are watching every move you make."
Jee Ick-joo, a Korean businessman residing in the Philippines, was taken away from his home by Philippine police in October 2016, and a kidnapping and ransom plot unfolded under the guise of a drug enforcement campaign. The businessman's wife, Choi Kyung-jin, spent months uncovering the truth about her husband's murder.
In mid-January this year, the National Bureau of Investigation discovered that Jee Ick-joo had been murdered. Investigators said they found clues about Jee Ick-joo's body at a funeral home, whose owner, a retired police officer, had been entrusted by drug enforcement officers to handle Jee Ick-joo's body. The funeral home flushed Jee Ick-joo's ashes down the toilet.
As the Philippine joke goes, if a kidnapping occurs, London police would arrive at the scene within 15 minutes, New York police within 10 minutes, but Philippine police would be dispatched from the scene of the crime. Police operations under the guise of drug enforcement, such as the Jee Ick-joo case, involve kidnapping and extortion. Investigators later admitted that, to their knowledge, Jee Ick-joo had no connection with drugs. The incident of Jee Ick-joo being kidnapped and murdered by police proves that the police, supposedly the guardians of the people, are actually the largest and darkest criminal organization in the Philippines.
After the incident, the Philippine police stated that they were handling the case according to the law, and any police officers found abusing their power would be punished. Several people have already confessed to participating in the kidnapping of Jee Ick-joo in sworn testimonies and have been detained pending further investigation;
However, no one has admitted to killing Jee Ick-joo, and the exact reason for his murder remains unknown. The first court hearing regarding Jee Ick-joo's murder took place on April 19, 2017, in Angeles City, about 80 kilometers north of Metro Manila.
On the evening of October 18, 2016, Choi Kyung-jin returned home to find the front door wide open and no one at home. The rooms upstairs were in disarray.
Jee Ick-joo was a successful businessman, of medium build, with thick black hair that had recently begun to turn gray. Friends and family said that Jee Ick-joo had always tried to keep a low profile.
Jee Ick-joo had worked in Europe and other regions before moving to the Philippines in 2007 as a manager for Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd., which operates a shipbuilding business in Subic Bay, a former US naval base.
Jee Ick-joo's wife, Choi Kyung-jin, said in an interview that she and her husband had been considering retirement, and both thought the Philippines seemed like a suitable place to settle. Jee Ick-joo opened a recruitment company, mainly serving factories around Angeles City. In 2012, the couple moved to Angeles City with their daughter, attracted by the pleasant climate and slower pace of life, and the local Korean expatriate community was growing.
Choi Kyung-jin said her husband was fond of golf, red wine, and science fiction movies. His phone had a playlist prepared for his company's karaoke team-building activities—his favorite song was Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog." Jee Ick-joo was very talkative. Choi Kyung-jin said, "I used to joke that my husband was only quiet when he was asleep."
On the morning of October 18, Choi Kyung-jin received a text from her husband asking what she wanted for lunch. Jee Ick-joo often ate at home. Choi Kyung-jin planned to go to the sauna that day, but she told her husband she would leave some food for him.
Choi Kyung-jin still remembers that at 5 p.m. that evening, she returned home to find the front door wide open and no one at home. The rooms upstairs were in disarray.
Soon after, Jee Ick-joo's Filipino maid, Marisa Morquicho, informed the authorities that two men claiming to be police officers had entered the house, alleging they were conducting a drug search. Morquicho remembered one of the officers, a large-bellied man with short black hair, whom she later identified as Ricky Santa Isabel.
Security cameras captured Isabel's wife's car parked in front of Jee Ick-joo's house on the day of the incident, and later Isabel was taken to the police station for questioning.
Jee Ick-joo's Filipino maid, Marisa Morquicho, was also briefly kidnapped. The image shows Morquicho attending a hearing in January 2017 with her face covered.
Neighbors told Choi Kyung-jin and investigators that they noticed several people pushing Jee Ick-joo into his SUV, as he struggled fiercely. Ms. Morquicho was also taken into the vehicle, and she saw Jee Ick-joo sandwiched between two men in the back seat. She said those people ordered her to tie a shirt over her face, blindfolding her, and then they drove towards Manila.
Morquicho said that after arriving in Manila, she was stuffed into another car and taken to another location, where someone gave her some money and told her to get off at a bus stop, wait ten seconds, and then untie the shirt from her face. By the time Morquicho counted to ten, those people had disappeared without a trace.
Later, a police officer named Roy Villegas, who admitted to being in the Ford SUV that day, told investigators that they took Jee Ick-joo to the police headquarters at Camp Crame.
Another former National Bureau of Investigation agent named Jerry Omlang said in a sworn statement that he was also with those police officers at the time. Jee Ick-joo pleaded with the police to let him go and offered to pay a ransom of 4 million pesos (about 80,000 US dollars) for his freedom.
Witnesses said that Jee Ick-joo was killed around 10 p.m. that evening, but their descriptions of how he was killed varied.
Police officer Villegas told investigators that Isabel brought some tape and surgical gloves, asking him to wrap the tape around Jee Ick-joo's head. Until then, Villegas thought he was participating in a legitimate drug raid. He said he was afraid for his own life and followed instructions, making it impossible for Jee Ick-joo to breathe, and then Officer Isabel strangled Jee Ick-joo to death.
However, Isabel denied in a sworn statement that he had killed Jee Ick-joo, stating that he was not involved in the kidnapping. He said he was at Camp Crame that day and saw another officer shoot Jee Ick-joo with a handgun, and he followed orders to handle Jee Ick-joo's body.
It is claimed that Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was murdered at the location shown in the image in October 2016.
Citizen Omlang, who was once an informant for the National Bureau of Investigation, admitted in a police statement that he participated in the kidnapping, and Officers Villegas and Isabel were also present. He said he got off the car before it reached Camp Crame and withdrew money from an ATM using Jee Ick-joo's bank card.
In February 2017, Officer Isabel, who was detained, briefly spoke during a meeting of an investigative panel held by the Department of Justice, pointing out that other police officers were the real culprits in killing Jee Ick-joo.
On the night of the murder, Jee Ick-joo's body was transported to a funeral home owned by retired police officer Gerardo Santiago. Santiago told investigators that Officer Isabel asked him if he could dispose of a body. He naturally assumed that these people were drug-related individuals killed during drug enforcement operations.
Villegas said they gave Santiago a sum of money equivalent to several hundred US dollars and also gave him a set of golf clubs from Jee Ick-joo's car trunk. Santiago admitted in a sworn statement that he received some money but denied taking the golf clubs.
Funeral home staff revealed to the police that they used a fake name and fake death certificate to cremate Jee Ick-joo's body. Embalmer Teodolito Tarepe said in a sworn statement that he noticed some strangulation marks on Jee Ick-joo's neck and that his wrists appeared to have been tied. He said, "Jee Ick-joo's pants in the front were wet, as if he had urinated involuntarily."
Back in Angeles City, Choi Kyung-jin said she tried to text and call her husband but received no response. Feeling helpless, she called her driver, and the two searched for Jee Ick-joo's car until 1 a.m.
The next day, Choi Kyung-jin reported the incident to the police, but they seemed unable to help. As the fact of her husband's kidnapping became increasingly apparent, she began searching for evidence on her own, including reviewing the community's surveillance footage, where she spotted a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. This vehicle was later confirmed to be Isabel's wife's car.
Text messages sent to Choi Kyung-jin's phone by the kidnappers.
Choi Kyung-jin learned from her husband's bank branch that someone had withdrawn cash using his card. She began packing Jee Ick-joo's clothes into sealed bags, ready for him to go to Korea immediately upon his return.
She said, "As long as he could come back, even if he came back limping, it would be fine."
Late at night on October 30, while her husband's fate was still uncertain, Choi Kyung-jin received a text message from an anonymous sender, demanding that she prepare 5 million pesos (about 100,000 US dollars) in ransom by 6 p.m. the next evening and warning her not to contact the police.
The sender did not respond after that. Choi Kyung-jin began calling friends and relatives to raise money. She decided not to report to the police but noted the serial numbers of the banknotes for future reference.
The next day, another number texted her, instructing her to go to a supermarket near a Jollibee fast food restaurant in Angeles City. The sender asked her to park her Honda Civic in front of the supermarket without turning off the engine, leave the cash in the car, and wait inside the restaurant (where she could only vaguely see the parking lot).
Another message followed, saying, "Act quickly, don't try anything funny, understand?"
Choi Kyung-jin arrived at the designated location and then waited inside the Jollibee burger shop, with some friends watching from a distance. Half an hour later, she texted to ask if she could return to her car. The sender did not reply for a long time, and Choi Kyung-jin went back to her car. The bag originally containing the cash was now empty.
Half an hour later, Choi Kyung-jin received a text message telling her not to worry and promising to contact her again.
Two days later, Choi Kyung-jin received another message asking her for an additional 4.5 million pesos. This time, she was powerless.
Due to a network outage, Choi Kyung-jin was unable to reply to the message immediately. When the network service was restored, she received a text message warning her that they were "joking" with Jee Ick-joo's life. By the time she replied, the sender no longer responded.
In mid-January, an intermediary notified Choi Kyung-jin to go to the office of a private detective she had hired. The private detective told Choi Kyung-jin that her husband was dead but did not explain how he had obtained this information. Choi Kyung-jin collapsed on the spot and still cannot remember how she got home afterward.
A few days later, the National Bureau of Investigation informed Choi Kyung-jin to come to their office, telling her that Jee Ick-joo's body had been cremated and his ashes flushed away. Other investigators asked her to identify the golf clubs found at the crematorium.
On January 20, 2017, the Philippine Department of Justice formally charged several police officers, including Isabel and Villegas, accusing them of kidnapping for ransom and murdering the hostage. The case caused a sensation across the Philippines. The then Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa told reporters that he was "very angry" and ashamed that "our people" were involved in killing Jee Ick-joo. He said, "If I could, I really want to kill these involved police officers."
The then Philippine President Duterte also publicly apologized for the incident. In a speech, he said, "You bunch of police scum, I won't let you get away with it. I will make you suffer." At the beginning of the incident, Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa offered to resign, but Duterte did not accept his resignation because he believed Dela Rosa was not responsible. Philippine and Korean officials cooperated in the investigation. The Korean president accepted Duterte's apology.
At the same time, Duterte temporarily suspended his drug enforcement campaign, ordering the police to clean up their ranks, but soon after, he vowed to crack down on the drug problem again. A few weeks later, the authorities launched a new round of the drug war, naming it "Operation Double Barrel: Reloaded."
Isabel claimed that he was forced to become the scapegoat for his superior, Police Superintendent Rafael Dumlao. Mr. Dumlao denied his guilt and stated in a sworn statement that Isabel could not escape blame.
Choi Kyung-jin said that Police Chief Dela Rosa asked her at the end of January whether Jee Ick-joo or his company had any involvement with casinos or drugs. She said no. He didn't even like taking medicine when he was sick. She said Dela Rosa told her not to read too much into his questions.
At that time, some police officials and congressmen, including former Police Chief Panfilo Lacson, expressed concern that the explanations about what exactly happened on October 18 were contradictory, and they worried that it would be difficult to convince people of the cause of Jee Ick-joo's death.
Choi Kyung-jin tried to start a new life. In February 2017, at a memorial service held in the suburbs of Seoul, she followed the tradition of Buddhist funerals, placing her husband's favorite blue shoes and clothes sealed in bags on a pile of firewood and setting them ablaze.
A week later, Choi Kyung-jin returned to her home in Angeles City. After her husband's murder, she moved to a safer residence. Choi Kyung-jin stared blankly at the living room where she had once lived.
"He only visited me in my dreams once," Choi Kyung-jin said after leaving the old house, "He didn't come to see me often, which made me a bit sad."
The police officers charged in this case also include Rafael Dumlao and Gerardo Santiago, as well as Omlang, mentioned earlier.
On June 6, 2023, the Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 60 found Isabel and Omlang guilty of kidnapping and murder and serious illegal detention, sentencing Isabel to life imprisonment; for car theft and illegal use of a vehicle (Carnapping), he was sentenced to 22 to 25 years in prison. At the same time, the court acquitted the mastermind Rafael Dumlao, as the prosecution failed to prove his guilt on all charges mentioned above.
Dumlao
In July 2024, the Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of Dumlao's acquittal, sentencing him to life imprisonment for kidnapping.
