Boy returned to parents 25 days after abduction

MANILA, Philippines - A four-year-old boy who was snatched by a neighbor more than three weeks ago in Caloocan City has been returned to his parents after his photograph and story came out in The STAR Monday.

Jacquelyn Ramores, 25, said a social worker from Malabon “sent us a text message claiming that the missing boy whose picture appeared in The STAR was with them.”

She said she coordinated with local police, who assisted her in recovering her son, Jherome, who was taken from their house in Bagumbong, Caloocan City by a neighbor, Teresa Garon, 39, during a birthday party and sold him for P6,000 to a doctor in Valenzuela City.

Garon was arrested on Aug. 2 after witnesses pointed to her as the last person seen with Jherome. She led the police to the doctor’s house in Valenzuela but the boy was no longer in the area.

Jacquelyn said that during a confrontation, Garon said she was bothered by her conscience and she spirited Jherome from the doctor’s house before dawn last July 18.

Garon said the doctor and a companion pursued them, so she left Jherome at a fastfood restaurant in Monumento, Caloocan City.

“My child wondered the streets of Monumento for five days, together with other homeless kids, until somebody brought him to the Malabon (social welfare office) last July 23,” Jacquelyn said.

She said she was reunited with her son last Monday, but decided to keep the news to themselves because they observed “strangers” on motorcycles casing their house.

Garon and the doctor were charged with child trafficking before the office of Caloocan City assistant prosecutor Darwin Canete.

Garon is detained without bail at the Caloocan City police while the doctor was “released for further investigation because the fiscal said we don’t have a strong case against him, ” Jacquelyn said.

During a confrontation with the suspects Wednesday afternoon in Canete’s office, the fiscal decided to postpone the preliminary hearing of the case when the boy was “visibly frightened” upon seeing his alleged abductors, Jacquelyn said.