2 men remain missing a month after kidnap

MANILA, Philippines — Two friends are still missing more than a month after they were kidnapped in Las Piñas.

Police have yet to give an update on the whereabouts of Charles Sotto, 30, and Jonas Calleja, 26, according to Sotto’s partner, Joyce Lopez, 27.

Lopez said they had dinner at her brother-in-law’s house in Barangay BF International on March 24 and the two friends stepped outside to go to a convenience store.

“Jonas even told me that he would ‘borrow’ Charles. I was busy talking with other people at that time, and I allowed them because I know that they would not go far. The guard house was just a block away and the (convenience store) is just near there,” Lopez told The STAR yesterday.

That was the last time Lopez saw her partner and Calleja. She said the guard on duty saw two men “abducted by men in four cars.” The guard reported that one of the victims wore a cast, and Sotto was wearing a cast on his right hand, Lopez said.

She said she does not know why they would be taken. It took two days after they reported the kidnapping to the police before they were able to get closed-circuit television footage of the incident.

In the video, the two men were about to go back to the village when four cars blocked them. The cars’ occupants grabbed them and told the guard it was a “police operation.”

“We even went to Cavite to check. We even got to the point wherein we were checking unidentified bodies. If they really did something wrong, or if there was an authority to do so, why was it illegal and there was no coordination?” Lopez said.

She said she and her partner had been selling vegetables and meat products online since last year while Calleja is unemployed after he dropped out of college.

“Charles does not have any enemies or any involvement with drugs. Charles is a very good man. He is family-oriented and we are doing our online business well since the pandemic. I even monitor people he talks to. It is hard for me because he was just mixed in the mess and no one deserves to be in their situation,” Lopez said.