PNP to probe child kidnappings – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into the cases of kidnapped children in Metro Manila, an official said yesterday.

“The NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office) has directed all units to immediately investigate reported cases of missing children,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a text message to reporters.

Parents should also report cases of missing children as soon as possible so authorities can act on them promptly, she added.  

NCRPO data showed that there were 38 children kidnapped in Metro Manila last year.

Concerns about child kidnappings were raised after a four-year-old boy who went missing last month was found decapitated and disemboweled in Pililla, Rizal last Thursday. The boy’s knees and internal organs are reportedly missing.

Police said the victim, identified as Mark Escarmosa, went missing on March 19 and was last seen alive at a basketball court. Initial investigations state that the child may have fallen off a ravine and slid towards a creek. Authorities, however, are not discounting the possibility that foul play was involved in the child’s death.

Investigators can no longer conduct an autopsy of the child’s body since it was already decomposing when it was discovered in a creek.

Meanwhile, PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said recent incidents involving missing children are due to their parents’ or guardians’ negligence.

“With regards to the missing kids, if you look at the video of missing boy, the kid was left alone giving opportunity to individuals with criminal intent to commit crime. So we should not give them the opportunity,” he said, referring to the case of a toddler snatched in Quezon City.

Lovelio Mendoza Jr., aged one year and seven months, was caught on surveillance footage following an unidentified man carrying a basin full of empty plastic bottles several blocks away from where his mother was buying cell phone load credits at a store.