Police identified the suspect as Vicky de la Cruz, 35, with no known permanent address. She was arrested at around 3 p.m. at the Joy Cinema on Libertad street.
Investigation conducted by the Pasay City police Women’s and Children’s Concerns Desk (WCCD) revealed that the alleged kidnapping happened last Jan. 11 at around 10 a.m. at Plaza Hernandez in Tondo, Manila.
Police said Carmelita Neuda, 28, of Barangay San Pablo, Malolos, Bulacan, and her son, Jerome, were strolling at the carnival when they met the suspect, who befriended them.
Neuda reportedly felt at ease with the woman that she asked the suspect to hold Jerome for her while she went to relieve herself in the toilet. When Neuda came out, both her son and De la Cruz were nowhere to be found.
Investigation further revealed that the suspect attempted to sell the baby to Jesusita Estrella, 35, of Condoro Street, Pasay for P2,000, with the suspect claiming the baby’s mother had left him to her.
According to Estrella, she told De la Cruz that she did not have the money. The suspect instead accepted P130 as reimbursement for her fare.
De la Cruz was arrested after she was spotted by Yolanda Velasco, 38, of Binondo, at the cinema.
Velasco, who had been helping Neuda search for her son, had known De la Cruz and told police that the suspect was a notorious pickpocket at the carnival.
Estrella willingly returned Jerome to his mother.
Meanwhile, a woman who worked as a collector for a market vendors’ cooperative was shot dead Saturday morning by one of two unidentified men who robbed her of some P10,000 in cash in Parañaque City.
Melanie Santos, 38, of Moras Street, San Dionisio, Parañaque, died of a single gunshot wound in the face. She was the collector of the Palanyag Public Market Vendors’ Multi-Puporse Cooperative of Parañaque.
Her assailants fled right after the incident at around 10 a.m. along M.H. del Pilar Street, Barangay La Huerta, said Police Officer (PO) 2 Valentin Cortun of the Station Investigation Division (SID) and one of the three case investigators.
Police gathered the victim was walking on the street when one of the assailants came from behind, casually put his arm around her, and then suddenly grabbed her beltbag.
Cortun said Santos might have put up a fight, prompting her assailant to shoot her.
She was taken to the Parañaque Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Cortun said the assailants might have known that Santos had just collected association dues from the members and had purposely waited for her.
The investigator said this was the second time Santos was robbed. – Nikko Dizon