Seminarian reported robbed, abducted in Quezon City

CITY OF MALOLOS – A 24-year-old seminarian was reported missing on Sunday night after he was robbed and forced into a van by two men near the compound of a television network in Quezon City.

The mother of John Angelo Balicoco, Adora, said her son texted her about his supposed abduction shortly after 6 p.m. on Sunday.

She said John Angelo sent this message in Filipino: “I was the victim of a holdup but was able to keep my mobile telephone which was how I was able to send this text message. Two men forced me into a van. The van is moving. It’s dark here. I don’t know where they are taking me.”

John Angelo is a philosophy student of the Immaculate Concepcion Major Seminary in Guiguinto town in Bulacan province.

Balicoco said her son was about to board a Metro Rail Transit train for Pasay City, where he would take a bus to a school in Balayan town in Batangas province. John Angelo teaches religion there.

The family reported the incident to the Quezon City police.