Remains of 2 kidnap victims dug up

CAMP MIGUEL MALVAR, Batangas — Acting on information provided by two arrested kidnapping suspects, police unearthed yesterday the remains of two victims — a municipal agrarian officer and a former Marinduque mayor’s seven-year-old nephew — in two separate sites in the province.

Senior Inspector Gerson Bisayas, police chief of Lian town, identified the kidnap victims as Leopoldo Lejano, chief of the Nasugbu municipal agrarian office, and Wilfred Jersey Red, 7, nephew of former Sta. Cruz, Marinduque mayor Wilfredo Red.

Lejano was snatched in Barangay Bungahan, Lian town last Dec. 20, while Red was seized while playing in front of the Namunga West Central School in Rosario town last April 25.

Arrested kidnapping suspects Armando Hernandez and Teddie Maranan led elements of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) to the graves of the two victims.

Lejano’s remains were exhumed in a sugarcane plantation in Barangay Acler, Tuy town, while Red’s body were dug up in a remote area in Barangay Nasi, Rosario town.

Lejano’s abductors demanded a P2-million ransom during his fourth day of captivity. Despite the payment of ransom, he was killed because he was reportedly able to identify his kidnappers.

On the other hand, the young Red’s captors had sought a P20-million ransom but later lowered the amount to P100,000.

When the boy’s family failed to raise the amount, he was stabbed six times in different parts of the body. Probers suspect that the boy could have been dead for at least three to five days. – With Rene Alviar