5-year-old girl, nanny slain by abductors

A five-year-old girl and her nursemaid, kidnapped on Tuesday in Binondo, Manila, were found murdered at the alleged killers’ hideout in Malolos, Bulacan yesterday.

Crack policemen later arrested two suspects — Monico Santos, 35, a taxi driver, and Francis Caniosa, of Gagalangin, Tondo.

The bodies of Eunice Kaye Chuang, daughter of a Taiwanese businessman of M.H. del Pilar street in Ermita, Manila and her "yaya," Bibeth Montecino, 27, bore signs of torture.

Santos was the taxi driver hired by Eunice’s family to take her to and from school.

Agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) retrieved the corpses from the ceiling of the suspects’ hideout in Barangay Old Sumapa in Malolos.

Autopsies conducted on the victims showed that they died of asphyxiation as they were gagged for several hours.

Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao, PAOCTF chief for Luzon, said medico-legal findings indicated that Montecino was sexually abused before she died.

Eunice’s was the eldest of the Chuangs’ brood of three.

"She was a very kind girl. She was usually quiet, but she was nice to all of us," her grandmother said in faltering Tagalog.

Mancao said charges of kidnapping, double murder and rape have been filed against the suspects.

Relatives of Eunice said they trusted Santos who was recommended by a common friend to take and fetch the girl from the Fil-San Bin Chinese School.

The abduction took place after only three days into the taxi service arrangement at P60 per trip.

Santos initially told Eunice’s parents that the girl and her nanny were snatched by armed men who intercepted them as they were negotiating a U-turn underneath Del Pan Bridge in Tondo. He said the kidnappers took the victims to a house in Masambong, Quezon City and were asking for P300,000 ransom.

Santos readily gave his sworn statement to the task force, and even accompanied the agents to his house in Malolos.

Cañoza was arrested in his house in Juan Luna, Tondo during a follow-up operation by a PAOCTF team led by Chief Inspector Sotero Ramos Jr.

Admitting his crime, Santos said he was in dire need of money for the completion of his house.

Western Police District director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon Jr. said the girl’s mother, Emily, accompanied by the school principal Margarita Gutierrez, went to the Binondo police station to report that the two victims were missing.

However, Inspector Teodorico Tolentino and SPO1 Mario de los Reyes told them to come back the next day as the victims have yet to qualify as "missing persons" after an absence of 24 hours.

An irate Razon sacked the two policemen for negligence and inefficiency.

"They did not properly follow our procedures. Based on procedures, missing persons should be considered as already kidnapped, especially if the victim is a child. They should have informed their superior officers about the complaint so that proper actions could be taken, like implementing a dragnet against the suspects," Razon said.

Razon defended Senior Superintendent Josephus Angan, chief of the Binondo police station, by saying Angan was not around when the complaint was filed.

Witnesses said they saw Eunice and her nursemaid board the Vacation Taxi with plate number TGM 818 driven by Santos.

Razon said he was informed of the abduction late Tuesday afternoon, after which he relayed the information to the PAOCTF. — With Mike Frialde, Ric Sapnu, James Mananghaya