Missing professor’s kin on painful mission to Sorsogon

The family of the Manila preschool owner and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) professor, who remains missing after he was kidnapped early this month along with the school’s caretaker and a 10-year-old boy, is set to proceed to Sorsogon province to identify the charred remains of a man found in Matnog town who could be the object of its search.

Former Catarman (Northern Samar) mayor Aleta Rosales also assured the Manila Police District (MPD) that she would turn in her nephew, Aurelio Esidera, the suspect in the kidnapping, should he surface.

MPD anti-carnapping and hijacking unit head Chief Inspector Rayan Ador said the family of Reynaldo Aguilar, the owner of the Heidelberg Preschool and Tutorial Center, was advised to coordinate with the Crime Laboratory in Sorsogon.

Ador said the body was badly burned when residents of Barangay (village) Hidhit in Matnog found it early this week.

“The provincial crime laboratory said the body belonged to a man in his 60s. They got samples for DNA testing and for comparison with Aguilar’s dental records,” he added. A quantum medallion necklace similar to one owned by Aguilar was recovered from the cadaver.

Aguilar, school caretaker Tony Austria, and a boy were kidnapped  on October 18  from the Heidelberg Preschool and Tutorial Center in Sta. Cruz, Manila, allegedly by Esidera, a tenant of ASL building where the school is located, and brought to Northern Samar province.

Austria turned up two days later at the Catarman provincial hospital in Northern Samar where he was brought by residents of Lope de Vega town after he was found near a river with a bullet wound in the back.

Esidera left the boy in the care of a priest in Calbayog City where he was later rescued by Manila police.