Mother of ‘missing girl’ denies kidnap story; no ransom

By Karissma Sta. Jauna

BAGUIO CITY -- The mother of an alleged missing girl who was kidnapped as reported as by a daily newspaper said there was no truth to the news story.

Police led by Senior Insp. Divina Menciowent to the house of the family of the alleged missing girl identified as “Edna”, 16, HRM student and found out that she went home on Sept. 23 at around 11 p.m. at their residence in Aguilar, Pangasinan.

The mother denied the text message sent to her aunt by an unidentified person that she stayed with her friends during the time that she could not be located to dissuade the parents and authorities in looking for them.

According to the report of the newspaper, the girl’s uncle reported the girl’s case to the National Bureau of Investigation - Cordillera after her niece did not come home from school.

Relatives of the girl reportedly got a text message from kidnappers telling them that the student was “under their care.”

The news report said the girl was able to sneak a message to her kin, saying she was afraid it might be her last message.

The report said the NBI-Cordillera considered this latest case as kidnapping, though no ransom was being asked by the alleged kidnappers of the girl.

However, according to BCPO records, the uncle of the girl reported to the office that his niece “Edna” already returned home on Sept. 23.

Based on the records of the Women and Children Protection Center, 56 females with ages ranging from 12-25 years old were reported missing from January to August 2011.

After further verification, only 11 among these were not yet reunited with their families although parents were aware of their whereabouts.

City police officials said the missing young girls are neither abducted nor kidnapped.

Most of them reportedly ran away from home or eloped with their lovers while some of the reported missing persons traveled.

Interview conducted by the WCPC among the children with similar cases revealed the most common reasons why these children ran away from home were peer influence, family problems and parents lack of time in spending with their children.