Amid the recent spate of alleged abduction of minors in Batangas, the Philippine National Police has formed a special investigation task group (SITG) to look into five separate incidents where 10 children went missing in the province within a week.
The Batangas Provincial Police Office created on Friday SITG 鈥淏atang Anghel鈥� to conduct a 鈥渃omprehensive and critical investigation鈥� on the consecutive cases of missing children in different towns of Batangas.
On Thursday, three separate incidents of missing children were reported in Batangas City and in the towns of San Pascual and Bauan, the police said. In Bauan, a five-year-old girl was taken by a bonnet-wearing man while the girl was casually walking with her mother. In San Pascual, three children aged seven, four and five went missing after they were last seen near a river.
Meanwhile in Batangas City, a 17-year-old was nearly abducted but was able to escape from her captor in Barangay (village) Kumintang Ibaba.
All victims of the September 3 abduction returned safely to their homes unharmed, said police.
But four children aged 14, 12 and 11 were still missing as of September 4 after separate incidents of abduction were reported to police on August 27.
Around 10 p.m. last Thursday, 14-year-old Robin Calayo, a Grade 8 student at San Pascual National High School and resident of Barangay Laurel, San Pascual, was kidnapped by a still unidentified suspect while he was riding a jeepney along Kapitan Ponso street in Barangay (village) Poblacion IV in Bauan town. The victim was then transferred in a van parked in the same street.
While the police were conducting follow-up operations in search for Calayo, Jerome Claveria, 12; Mica Recto, 11; 聽and Romar Manalo, 11 were also reported missing by their relatives.
Remain calm
The Batangas police also urged the public to remain calm but at the same time be wary of hoaxes on missing persons being spread on social media.
鈥淭he public is reminded to be calm and to take personal caution so as not to be a victim of any kind of criminalities. We are appealing to the public to refrain from disseminating hoax information, especially through social media so as not to cause panic in the locality,鈥� Batangas Police spokesperson Inspector Hazel Luma-ang said in a statement.
Thes pokesperson also asked the public to report incidents first to the nearest police station 鈥渇or the police to take cognizance of the case鈥� before sharing cases of missing persons on social networking sites
For any information on the missing children, one may contact the Batangas Police through 0906-2072776. Julliane Love de Jesus/IDL