De Lima insists Burmese boy’s kidnappers demanded ransom

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima insisted on Wednesday that the kidnappers of an 8-year-old Burmese boy rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation in Taytay, Rizal, had demanded ransom.

Speaking with reporters, De Lima said she was surprised why the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) was denying that the victim’s abductors had demanded ransom for his release.

In fact, she said, AKG operatives helped the victim’s parents in negotiating with the still unidentified kidnappers.

“I really don’t understand why the AKG has denied that there was a demand for ransom because our information is that there was indeed a ransom demand, but it did not push through,” De Lima said in an interview.

“The information I received is that there was supposed to be a negotiation between the kidnappers and the (victim’s) parents through the AKG,” she added.

The justice secretary said she will meet with Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to clarify why the PNP disputed the NBI’s report on the incident.

The victim, said to be a son of Burmese immigrants, was taken by heavily armed men while he was about to board his school bus in Biñan, Laguna on June 22.

De Lima said NBI operatives found the boy abandoned inside a shanty in a low-cost housing project in Taytay around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.