Tabuelan girls escape from being abducted by woman

Two girls from Tabuelan town narrowly escaped from a woman who enticed them with money and food to accompany her to Cebu City last Dec.1.

The girls, who are sisters, aged 11 and 7, were returned to their parents in Tabuelan town in northwestern Cebu yesterday morning. The sisters had been staying with their relatives in barangay Labangon, Cebu City, since their escape from the woman.

Tabuelan police said they were still trying to identify the woman who tried to abduct the children.

Investigation showed that last Dec. 1, the children left school early and tried to while away the time by strolling along the bus terminal in barangay Poblacion.

While at the terminal the children met a woman who asked them to accompany her to Cebu City. They agreed to the woman’s offer after she gave them P1,000 cash.

PO3 Junard Layao of the Tabuelan police said the woman never told the girls why she wanted them to accompany her to the city.

“Nikuyog ra kuno sila,” said Layao.

They rode a bus from the Tabuelan terminal to Mandaue City, an 89-kilometer bus ride.

When they arrived at the the North Bus Terminal at the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City in the afternoon, the woman brought the girls to a nearby carenderia where she ordered food for them to eat.

At that time, the elder sister sensed something was wrong and that the woman was planning something bad for them.

At the carenderia, the sisters waited for the right timing to run away from the woman. When the woman was a few meters away from them, the girls then ran and escaped.

“Nalipat ang babaye og nanagan sila,” said PO3 Junard Layao of the Tabuelan Police.

The girls said they didn’t know where they were going. Fortunately, they remembered their half brother, who worked at the Carbon market. They continued walking for most of the night until they reached Carbon market where they searched and found their surprised elder brother.

The brother brought them to his uncle in barangay Labangon, where they had stayed since their escape.

Yesterday , their uncle brought them home to barangay Ibabao, Tabuelan town. Their parents who reported the girls missing since Dec. 2 informed police of the girls’ safe return home.