PNP orders creation of special team to probe child abductions

PNP Director General Alan Purisima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines–The chief of the Philippine National Police on Tuesday directed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to create a special team of investigators to help the National Capital Region Police Office in looking into the series of alleged abduction of children in Metro Manila.

Director General Alan Purisima issued his order after Malacañang raised its concern about the reported disappearance of several minors in the metropolis during the past few days and ordered the NCRPO to investigate the incidents.

Purisima said he had instructed Chief Superintendent Francisco Uyami, CIDG director, to form a team of police investigators to determine the circumstances of the disappearance of at least four children in Metro Manila.

“These investigators will be assisting the NCRPO in the conduct of the investigation and the possible arrest of the perpetrators, if there are any,” the PNP chief said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to contact Uyami, but he did not answer calls and text messages on his cellphone.

Last week, Purisima played down rumors that members of a syndicate were going around the metropolis, abducting children to harvest their body parts.

Several TV and radio stations have reported that parents of at least four missing minors had sought the help of the media in locating their missing children.

Fears that they may have been seized by a group involved in the sale of internal organs were further fueled by the discovery of the decomposing body of Mark Elgin Escarmosa, a missing 4-year-old whose dismembered body was recovered from a ravine in Pililia, Rizal, last Friday.

But Purisima said there was no evidence showing that the cases were all related, adding that the rumors were merely based on text messages.

Director Leonardo Espina, NCRPO chief, also said they did not gather any information which tends to show that the supposed abductions were the handiwork of a syndicate.

While the NCRPO recorded 38 cases of missing persons last year, Espina said 36 of these had been resolved. “The victims were returned to the care of their parents. Some fled their houses while others strayed far while playing,” he said.